A Fevered Heart
by terreisa
Summary: Things are finally settling down after the events brought about by the Snow Queen. Emma's glad to be getting back to some sense of normality but that's a foreign concept in Storybrooke. All it takes is a certain pirate to come down with the flu for Emma to realize that being normal is just not in the cards for the Savior.
1. Fevered Brow

**I do not own these characters, that would be Kitsis and Horowitz. I just let them out to play.**

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Paperwork. Who would have thought there would be so much paperwork? Storybrooke was a town filled with people from the Enchanted Forest with nowhere to go. How was it possible that there was even paperwork to fill out? It's not like they could send it to any place of real authority, the county officials probably didn't even know that Storybrooke existed. Let alone that there were reams of reports and backlogs boxed up and waiting for nothing apparently.

Emma sighed to herself, letting her head fall back trying to ease the tension in her shoulders. She should have made David do all the paperwork, she would have even pulled rank to make it happen. But he, along with Mary Margaret, were attending one of Ashley's parenting classes. Her parents were really pulling out all the stops when it came to raising Neal.

She didn't mind, not completely. Sure, there was a part of her that was sad that they didn't get to experience it with her and that she didn't get to do the same with Henry but there was no use dwelling on it. Her past may be a minefield of bad memories but Emma had resolved to not let it affect her future. So far it hadn't been too much of a hurdle, just a little speed bump here and there.

Really, it was her mom's fault that she was stuck in her office filling out a report about a damaged power line due to one villain or another. Mary Margaret had decided that as long as she was still mayor before Regina stepped back in she would do things right and not just be content with the fact that they really didn't need to worry about proper bureaucracy. Emma had tried to reason with her mom but then David had given her a warning look and she backed off. It was a weird feeling being chastised by her dad as an adult, especially when she wasn't used to it in the first place.

At least she had lunch to look forward to. Killian would be there soon and they would head down to Granny's to meet up with her parents to do a baby hand off. David would return to the station for the rest of the afternoon, Mary Margaret had paperwork of her own at the mayor's office, and Emma would be free from the paper pushing nightmare for the rest of the day. Plus, Henry would be coming over to the loft after school to spend the weekend with her.

Despite their past differences it had been relatively easy to figure out a schedule with Regina regarding Henry. Seeing as how Emma still lived with her parents and their baby, they both agreed that he would stay with Regina on school nights and then with Emma on the weekends. Of course, he usually stopped by the loft, or the station, after school for an hour or two if he wasn't helping out at Gold's shop that day. After Gold's banishment Belle had been running both the shop and the library so Henry had stayed on to help her out. Something that both Emma and Regina were very proud of him doing.

Glancing quickly at the clock she dropped her head back down in resignation trying to focus on the report in front of her. She only had to make it until Killian showed up and then she was free. It belatedly occurred to her that something about the time was off. Looking back at the timepiece she realized that it was twenty minutes past the time Killian said he would be there. He had never been late before. In fact, he was usually ten minutes early annoying her with puppy dog eyes and spouting innuendos until it was actually time for her to leave.

Digging her phone out of her pocket she saw that there weren't even any messages from him. He had recently gotten the hang of texting and found it endlessly entertaining. It was rare for him to send less than fifty messages while she was at work. Despite how much she enjoyed getting them she would never tell him that. It would just inflate his ego and the number of texts would increase ten fold. Plus, he could only neglect whatever he got up to down at the docks for so long.

Slightly worried she pulled up her speed dial and tapped on the photo of Killian. It was a cute picture she had snapped one day when he had taken her and Henry out sailing. He was standing at the prow of the boat pointing out something to Henry and the joy on his face never ceased to make her smile. Listening to her phone she realized she could faintly hear his own phone ringing in response. Quizzically she followed the noise out to the hallway where sounds of Killian muttering became clear as well. Grinning to herself she hung up her phone and turned the corner, ready to give him a hard time about almost standing her up for their lunch date. The words died on her lips the moment she laid eyes on him.

The first thing she noticed were his clothes. He prided himself on looking impeccable, something he reminded her every time she teased him about about how much leather he wore. He looked as if he had slept in them, and not a restful sleep either. His shirt was buttoned wrong, the cuffs of his sleeves weren't buttoned at all, and he had only halfheartedly tucked the shirttail into his pants. A vest was flapping open over his chest and his leather coat was missing altogether.

"Killian?" She was able to keep the worry out of her voice but just barely.

"Hello Swan, fancy seeing you here," he said, looking at her but not really seeing her.

Emma stepped closer to him, noticing even more as she did. He was swaying slightly on his feet, as though he had just stepped back on dry land after months at sea. His face was ghostly pale and as a result the scar across his cheek was so red it looked recent instead of years old. There were dark purple smudges under his eyes making it appear as if both his eyes had been blackened in a fight. In short Killian looked like he'd been hit by a car, again.

"Are you okay?" She reached a hand out to steady him but he barely noticed.

"Aye," Killian licked his lips distractedly, a look of puzzlement on his face as if he was trying to find the right words. "Sorry, I'm late. I'm afraid that I'm not feeling quite top form at the moment."

"No kidding, you look like crap."

Emma brought her hand up and placed the back of it on his forehead. His skin was clammy but that wasn't what concerned her. Killian's temperature was through the roof, as though he was a furnace running at high speed. His normally bright blue eyes were glassy with fever as he tried to focus on her.

"Jesus, Killian, you're burning up! What are you even doing here, you should be in bed," she admonished him as she dropped her hand to his elbow to guide him gently back into the station.

"We had plans to share a meal with your parents and I fear I may have overslept. Apologies," he leaned into her and she could feel the heat coming off of him in waves.

Making it back to her office she gently guided him into her chair behind the desk. He smiled gratefully up at her before tipping his head back and closing his eyes. Emma stood indecisively for a minute watching him. On one hand there wasn't much she could do for Killian besides pump him full of over the counter drugs and get him back to bed. On the other was there was nothing worse than being sick and having to suffer alone.

Quietly leaving Killian in her chair she walked a little ways down the hall to call David.

"Emma? Where are you?" She smiled at her dad's worried tone since he most likely thought she was busy with Killian doing _other_ things.

"I'm really sorry Dad, but I'm still at the station. Killian just got here but he looks like he was dragged down here from the back of a truck and he's running a pretty high fever," she looked back down the hall at the slumped figure at her desk. "I'm going to get him back to Granny's and stop by the drugstore. I don't think I'll be able to watch Neal after all."

There was a pause as she heard him relay it to Mary Margaret. She heard her mom murmur in response but didn't really pay attention. From the way Killian was when he got to the station she realized that she would have to get a raincheck on more than just lunch with her parents. Henry would understand but that didn't mean he would like it. Maybe she could convince Regina to let him stay an extra day at the end of the weekend to make up for it.

"Emma?" David had come back on the line without her noticing.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, you were saying?"

"I was just telling you not to worry about Neal. Your mother doesn't have any appointments this afternoon so he'll be fine at the office with her. Do you need me to pick up Henry?"

"No," she decided after some thought. "Killian is already pretty out of it and by the time I get him settled and drugged up I'll be able to get Henry myself. He'll have to stay at Regina's tonight though, I don't want to leave Killian alone for too long."

"Hmph, I'm sure Hook can take care of himself," he muttered. "Henry can spend time with his cool grandparents until you get home tonight."

This time she did hear Mary Margaret on the other end of the line. "David! That's not fair."

"Mom's got a point, way to play guilt tripping card. It's not about Killian fending for himself, it's about the fact that he doesn't have to. Being sick sucks and I want to be there for him."

Before David could answer Emma heard Mary Margaret wrestling the phone out of his grasp. Emma just rolled her eyes but was thankful she didn't have to endure more of David's overprotective dad issues.

"Emma? Don't listen to your father. Just take care of Killian and we'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed, relieved the conversation was ending. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Oh, Emma, of course."

Hanging up Emma stood in the hallway revelling in the feeling of having a family. People who cared about her, worried for her, and stubbornly tried to protect her. It was an odd sensation that she was still growing accustomed to but one she treasured none the less.

Smiling to herself she walked back to the dozing Killian. His head was resting awkwardly on his shoulder, breathing shallowly through his mouth, and his hand was splayed across his stomach fingers twitching as though reacting to his dreams. She could see a sheen of sweat that had broken out on his forehead, a sure sign that he was sicker than she originally thought.

Grabbing a few napkins she kept in her desk for the inevitable spill brought on by her clumsiness she dabbed his forehead gently. He murmured in response but didn't wake. Slowly, and with care, she rubbed her thumb across the shadow under his eye, the heat from his fever baking her fingertips. She let her fingers dance across his temple and comb through his slightly damp raven hair.

"Killian?" she spoke quietly trying to rouse him. "Killian, come on tiger, it's time to wake up."

"Hmm?" He leaned into her hand but didn't quite open his eyes.

"As comfortable as that chair might be it's time for us to go."

"Go?" Killian opened his eyes blearily. Sitting up he looked around him before settling his confused gaze on her. "Apologies Swan, I believe we were headed for Granny's before I rudely dozed off. Bad form."

"Considering the fever you're running I think you're entitled to a little 'bad form'," giving him a smirk she rounded the desk to grab her coat off the rack. "We're not going to Granny's. I'm picking up some medicine and we're getting you back into bed."

"That's not necessary Swan. I'm feeling much better now," Killian stood up to prove his point and promptly swayed alarmingly before steadying himself on the desk.

"Well, if that didn't convince me how much better you're feeling then the lack of interest in me getting you into bed certainly did," she quipped, raising her eyebrow at him.

Killian's mouth dropped open as he stared disbelieving at her.

"Perhaps you're right, love. A few hours rest should set me to rights."

They made it to her bug without incident, although Killian had been moving slower than normal. Emma grimly drove them to the drugstore figuring it was best to stop there first. Killian hadn't fallen back asleep but he was sitting listless in the passenger seat. The sooner he got some kind of medicine in him the easier he would be able to rest.

Emma was in and out of the store before Killian even noticed she was gone. Luckily it hadn't been busy and Tom had some plenty good suggestions on which medicines to get for the symptoms she described. After some consideration she also bought a paperback novel from a turnstile by the register. She wasn't about to sit in his room at Granny's counting the flowers on the wallpaper for entertainment.

It wasn't long before she pulled into the back parking lot and got Killian up to his room. They didn't meet anyone along the way but that wasn't surprising. The boarding house didn't have anyone else staying in the rooms that Emma knew of. It was a good thing that the diner was always busy because Granny wasn't making much of a profit off the room fees.

Setting the bag from the drugstore on the desk in the room she turned around to see Killian splayed out on his stomach on the bed. Rolling her eyes in exasperation she left him alone to pick which medicine to give him and get the dosage ready. After a quick run down to the bathroom for a glass of water and a dampened washcloth she hesitated slightly before sitting beside him on the bed.

"Killian," she whispered. If he was asleep she'd skip the medicine and let him rest.

"Hmm?"

"I have some medicine for you," she rubbed his back gently. "After you take it you can go to sleep."

He turned over slowly and raised himself up on his elbows. Eyeing the glass in her hand warily he sat up fully next to her.

"I don't know what potion or elixir you've procured Swan, but if it will restore me to full health I'll gladly drink it."

Grabbing the glass he drank it quickly. The look of shock and confusion had Emma pressing her lips together to keep her laughter from bubbling out.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" He gasped as he slammed down the glass on the bedside table.

"Alka-Seltzer. Lemon-lime flavor to be exact," she said flippantly as she pushed him back down onto the bed. "It usually works the fastest and the best for me and Tom agreed."

She shifted on the bed and noticed that he still had his boots on. Turning back to scold him she saw that Killian's indignation at the drug seemed to have sapped what was left of his strength. He offered no resistance to her removing his boots and was asleep by the time the second one hit the floor, leaving her with the task of maneuvering him onto the center of the mattress and under the blankets. She thought about taking off his vest and shirt but despite how often she had thought about divesting Killian of his clothes she knew she wanted him conscious to appreciate it. He would probably prefer it that way too. So she left him fully clothed, wrapped in the blankets with the washcloth across his forehead.

Before leaving she decided to write him a note explaining where she was in case he woke up before she came back. As she was setting the empty glass on it to hold in place on the bedside table his hand shot out and grasped her wrist.

"Leaving so soon Swan? And here I thought you'd been itching have me at your mercy," he quipped, albeit halfheartedly.

"We'll discuss you being at my mercy when you're not swimming in germs," she teased while loosening his grip and placing his hand on his chest, lacing her fingers in his. "I'm just going to pick up Henry and tell him that he'll need to stay with Regina tonight. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"No, love, there's no need for that. You've been looking forward to your time with Henry all week, don't forego that on my account," he made to sit up but she stopped him with their entwined hands still on his chest.

"Hey, relax. Henry will understand that I want to be here. For you."

They held a silent battle with their eyes until Killian agreed with a slight nod of his head. Emma smiled gently at him, pulling her hand from his. After fixing the washcloth that had slipped to one side she bent down and kissed him on his brow.

"Get some rest. I'll be back with some soup from the diner in a little bit."

Emma stood up and walked to the door. Before she slipped out to the hallway she heard Killian murmur to himself. She smiled contentedly to herself and promised silently to do as he asked. She would hurry back.


	2. Fevered Dreams

**I do not own these characters, Kitsis and Horowitz do. I'm just here to let them play.**

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"We finally got our math test back," Henry said offhandedly.

"And?" Emma knew he had gotten a good score just from the way Henry was bouncing on the stool.

"I got a B+, it would have been a B but I answered the bonus question right."

"Good for you, kid! See, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Now how about your history report? I know it's due next week and Belle told me you haven't be in the library very much."

"Ugh, why do you have to know everyone in town? I can't hide anything," he pouted into his hot chocolate.

"Hey, it's not just me. Regina and Mary Margaret know people too and we happen to talk to each other on occasion. Plus there is the fact that we live in a small town that no one can leave. Gossip is our only source of entertainment," she teased as she dipped her finger into her own mug, scooping out a dollop of whipped cream.

"So, will I be staying with my Mom or Grandma and Grandpa tonight?" Henry asked casually.

Emma had been about to take a drink and was just able to catch herself before spitting hot chocolate all over the counter. She hadn't mentioned a thing to him since she picked him up from school. Sometimes it was eerie how easily he could figure things out, maybe he had inherited her super power.

"How did you know? I've only talked to Mary Margaret and David and you've only been out of school for twenty minutes, all of which have been spent with me."

"Well… you got twitchy when I said we could play video games tonight after dinner. Then you told Granny that you wanted soup to go but not until later and you only eat soup when you're sick," he answered smugly.

"I do not get twitchy," she mumbled petulantly, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears.

"Yeah you do. Also, when you were in the bathroom Leroy came over and told me to get orange juice in case I was already infected with Killian's germs."

"Ugh, he should just go by Loose Lips Leroy instead of Grumpy. It would suit him better."

Emma turned to glare at Leroy but his back was to her and it was unfair to the other dwarves to be at the receiving end of her annoyance. She had planned to talk to Henry about pushing back their weekend after they had finished their hot chocolate. It wasn't that she was putting off telling him but she didn't want to spoil his weekend right off the bat. Emma didn't want Henry to feel as though she were choosing Killian over him.

It had been a little rough at the beginning and the Snow Queen's mirror curse hadn't helped. Killian had reluctantly told her what Henry had said to him under the curse. She assured him that it was just the curse talking but she still sat Henry down to have a discussion about it the next day. Henry's main issue was that he still partially viewed Killian as the villainous Captain Hook when it came to him being with Emma. Which Emma found amusing considering his support and belief in Regina and even his faith that Gold could be good.

Only time would show Henry what Emma had already seen in Killian, that he was a good man with a passionate heart. He just happened to let his passion lead him down a dark path for a century or two. Henry just wanted her to be happy and had been giving Killian the benefit of a doubt.

"So, what does Killian have? If it's not too bad can I go up and say hi so I can get sick too and not have to do my history report?" Henry asked eagerly.

"Nice try but you're not getting out of your homework that easily," she said turning back, giving him an unamused look. "I think it's just the flu. I just want to make sure he takes his medicine and doesn't try to prove he's tough by suffering through it. Remember that time Walsh ended up being sick for two weeks because he refused to take a day off to recuperate?"

"Yeah, but he kind of deserved it don't you think?" He remarked bitterly. Henry would probably never forgive Walsh's betrayal. Not that Emma had either.

"In hindsight, yes, but that's why I'm going to have to push back our weekend a day or two. I'm not about to let Killian suffer alone. If I'm around I can at least bully him into taking medicine."

"You at least got the gross grape flavored one right? The one that leaves my tongue purple and slimy?"

"No, they don't really make NyQuil in grape flavor. I settled for cherry instead so his tongue will be red and slimy instead."

"Cool," Henry nodded in approval. "I guess I'll go see if Belle needs any help today. Maybe she'll finally let me sort through the swords and axes."

"Ha ha, very funny. What's the rush? It's not like Killian's going anywhere," Emma said bewildered.

"Oh, I know but you're checking the clock a lot and Granny keeps cleaning the same spot on the counter waiting to get you the soup you ordered."

"Someday, kid, you're going to have to learn to control your powers of observation," Henry just smiled in response. "Okay, fine. Go straight to the shop, you know I'll know if you don't. I'll let Regina know what's going on so she can pick you up later."

"Will you guys ever let me walk home alone?" He sounded sullen but resigned.

"Not until you've graduated and by then you can drive yourself, if we ever let you," she joked straight faced.

Hopping off their stools Emma pulled Henry in for a hug. She wasn't thrilled about the situation but after talking to Henry and seeing that he wasn't upset with her she felt marginally better. As he left he threw a little wave over his shoulder that she returned even though he couldn't see it. Sometimes she wondered where her life would be if he hadn't shown up on her doorstep but she never dwelled on it. She knew it wouldn't be half as good as it was now.

"Ready for that soup?" Granny's voice brought her back from her musing.

"Yeah, any possibility of some toast to go with it?"

"Sure. How about you? Want me to box up some lasagna or a burger?"

"No, not right now. I don't think Killian's eaten all day so I'll get this up to him and then come back down for something later," she explained.

"Alright. I'll get that soup and toast right out to you," Granny said over her shoulder walking to the window separating the kitchen from the front of the diner.

Emma sent a message to Regina while she waited for the food to be ready. It only took a few minutes before she was balancing the styrofoam cup in one hand with container of toast and possibly a piece of pie in the other. She carefully made her way up to Killian's room. Her luck held out and she made it to his door without spilling anything, a miracle in her book. She opened the door with care and entered the room.

The first thing she noticed was that it was darker inside than she had left it. He had apparently woken up at some point to shut the curtains. She paused in the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the dimness. Realizing the noise from the diner was filtering upstairs she nudged the door closed behind her and placed the food on the desk. She could hear him breathing heavily on the bed but her eyes still hadn't fully adjusted.

Slowly the details of the room became easier to see. Killian was sprawled out on his back with the blankets tangled around his legs having apparently tried to kick them off at some point. He had, however, successfully removed his vest and shirt which were crumpled up in a heap on the floor. After taking a moment to admire the view she busied herself setting up the meal, letting the heat leave her cheeks before she woke him up.

Turning on the lamp on the desk she saw that there was a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie for Emma to enjoy. Granny certainly knew how to keep her customers happy. Smiling, Emma walked over to the bed and sat down on the mattress.

Killian didn't look any worse but he also didn't look much better. It was hard to tell in the semi-darkness but some of his color seemed to have returned. The shadows remained under his eyes just not as prominent as they had been earlier. Placing the back of her hand on each of his cheeks and then forehead in turn she could feel that his fever had gone down but hadn't broken yet.

"Killian," she spoke quietly not wanting to jar him into consciousness. Cupping his face she rubbed her thumb across the apple of his cheek. "Hey, Killian, you need to wake up. Just for a little bit."

He rolled his head slightly from side to side and his eyelids started fluttering as he rose from the depths of sleep. Suddenly he breathed in deeply through his nose startling Emma as his eyes snapped open. His dilated pupils darted from one thing to another until his gaze finally settled on her. She let out the breath she had been holding when his eyes met hers and the panic in them drained away.

"Swan," he croaked. "You're here."

"I told you I would be. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been bludgeoned by a giant and forced to swallow a gallon of seawater," Killian groaned bringing his hand to his throat. "Do you think, perhaps, I might have some water? Preferably without the lemon-lime concoction you made me imbibe earlier."

"Sure, there's a pitcher on the desk. I also brought up some soup and toast for you if you think you can eat something. I'll make you take some more of the 'concoction' after we eat," she said sweetly, standing up and moving toward the desk.

"I believe that one day Swan, you'll be the death of me," he mumbled as he sat up slowly.

"Since you're such a survivor I'm pretty sure that won't be the case."

He scowled at her before looking down at his bare chest and then at stump at the end of his left arm. His annoyance quickly morphed into distaste as he started patting down the bed. Emma could only guess that he had also removed the sheath for his hook at some point but didn't remember doing it. She knew he was self conscious about her seeing him without it on, no matter how much she tried to assure him she didn't care. Instead of bringing it up and drawing attention to the matter she busied herself pouring both of them a glass of water and sitting down at the desk.

The quiet padding of feet let her know that he had deemed himself suitable for her eyes. Killian had indeed found his hook and was adjusting the straps as he sat down. He had also put his shirt back on but neglected to button it, much to Emma's distraction. Realizing that she was staring she blushed and quickly looked up at his face. His smirk and raised eyebrow let her know he was most likely feeling better than earlier.

"Enjoying the show?"

"I'll enjoy it more when the fever isn't addling your brains," she grumbled.

"Come now Swan, no need to pout. I'm sure you're thoroughly enjoying having me at your mercy," he smiled at her before tentatively taking a sip of water.

Emma had thought that he was on the mend but was disheartened to realize it might have just been a short respite. He was moving slowly and gingerly as though his joints were made of glass. The color had drained from his face during his short walk from the bed to the desk and there were spots of high color on his cheeks making it seem as if he had been out in the sun all day. She noticed him wince when he drank the water and suspected he now had a sore throat to add to his ailments.

"I see we now know who is a favorite of Granny's then, don't we?" Killian remarked, gesturing to the pie in front of Emma.

"Yeah, it's you," she said trying to keep her voice light. Killian didn't need to worry about her on top of trying to get better. "Granny only had potato leek soup on the menu today. When I told her you were sick she started making that from scratch. It was ready by the time I came back with Henry."

"Really? I knew she wasn't immune to my alluring charm," he said delightedly. "How did the lad take it then? Does he regard me as even more unworthy of your affection?"

"No, of course not. Henry was okay about it. Actually, he had already worked it out before I could tell him."

"Smart boy, although considering who his mother is it's not all that surprising."

He tipped a wink at her and focused on the cup of soup in front of him. Emma dropped her gaze to the pie in front of her but watched Killian from her periphery, a trick she had perfected as a bail bonds person. Killian's posture had sagged slightly when she looked away from him and he was staring at the soup as though it was a five course meal he had to eat by himself. She forced herself to take a bite of pie so as not to tip him off but it felt like glue in her mouth despite the magic of Granny's baking skills.

Slowly they tackled the food in front of them. Killian for his part put on a better act than Emma. He finished most of the broth and valiantly took a bite of toast, wincing as he swallowed it. Emma stopped eating after three bites and ended up pushing the pie around the container until it resembled roadkill more than pie. At that thought she had shoved the container away in disgust to the puzzled amusement of Killian. Determined to not put pressure on him to eat she spent the rest of the time counting the flowers on the wallpaper and tapping out a discordant rhythm with her fingers.

"Swan, what's wrong?"

She jumped at the pressure of his hand on hers. He was watching her warily but with an intensity that caught her off guard.

"Nothing," she lied.

"Ah, don't forget that you're an open book to me, love," he said softly.

Breathing in through her nose she tried to come up with the right words. She had dealt with sick boyfriends before. Neal had been a big baby, even if it had just been a case of the sniffles. Walsh had been stubborn to the point of almost passing out from exhaustion. Yet neither of them had her as worried as she was for Killian. She knew it was just the flu but seeing him stripped of all bravado and somewhat vulnerable had thrown her for a loop. It didn't help that he was downplaying his discomfort to set her mind at ease.

"You don't feel any better do you?" She asked bluntly.

His eyes widened slightly at her directness and slowly shook his head. Emma pressed her lips into a thin line but curled her fingers around his gently to let him know she wasn't angry.

"It appears you can read me just as well Swan. I was hoping to convince you of my improved health so you would go spend time with your son and not waste it here with me."

"We've already talked about this. Apparently it was the fever I was talking to earlier. I'm not going anywhere and Henry understands that," she stated emphatically.

Emma was still taken by surprise when Killian voiced his doubts about her wanting to be with him. She had been floored when he confessed that he had left a message for her the night she almost gave up her magic and by what he had said. Sure, she had been a little angry that he had been manipulated by Gold but she had been been dismayed that he didn't think himself worthy of her. All she knew was that it was going to take time for him to realize she was in for the long haul.

"Apologies, love, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset, just worried. You barely ate your food and your symptoms aren't getting any better."

Without letting go of his hand she stood up and circled the desk to stand over him. Using her free hand she once again felt his forehead and was disappointed to find that his temperature had crept up since she had woken him. He leaned into her, closing his eyes, and resting his head on her stomach. She slowly ran her fingers through his hair trying to comfort him in any way possible.

They stayed like that for a while until Emma could feel him trying not to fall asleep. A quick check of the clock on the bedside table showed her that Killian should have taken some medicine nearly an hour before. She reluctantly stepped back but dropped her hand to his shoulder loath to break contact. He looked up at her blearily.

"Killian."

"Yes?"

"It's time for some more medicine."

He grimaced but shrugged, resigned to take whatever she would give him. Delving back into the bag from earlier in the day she pulled out the NyQuil and measured out the proper dosage. If anything it would knock him out until the morning and hopefully he would be feeling much better.

Better prepared for the taste Killian swallowed the liquid without too violent a reaction. He did run his tongue across the roof of his mouth once or twice, much to Emma's amusement. Before she could force him back into bed he excused himself to make use of the bathroom at the end of the hall. When he returned a few minutes later she noticed he faintly smelled of mint and figured he brushed his teeth just to get the taste of medicine out of his mouth.

Killian hesitated before getting back in bed. Emma knew it was only a matter of time before the medicine did it's job so she hoped he wouldn't try to fight it just to persuade her to leave once more.

"Swan?"

"Yeah?"

"You're determined to stay here tonight?" He asked scratching behind his ear, his gaze alternating between her and the bed.

"Yes," she said exasperated. "I brought a book to read and everything."

"Right, well, where are you planning on sleeping?"

Emma opened her mouth to answer before realizing she hadn't really thought about it. In fact, she had anticipated being up most of the night reading. It wouldn't be all that different than a stake out, except for the fact that she wouldn't be holed up in her beetle and had access to a running toilet.

"I wasn't. Planning on sleeping, actually. Perks of being a bail bonds person, you get used to staying up all night doing nothing."

"That's taking it too far Swan. There's no need for you to watch over me like a hen over her chicks. There is a perfectly good bed here that I'm quite sure can accommodate the both of us."

"And here I thought the fever had all but erased the temptation of getting me in your bed completely from your mind," she joked.

"Swan, nothing in this or any other land could make me forget that," he remarked, suggestively lifting his brow. "This, however, is me being a gentleman. There's no need for you to stay awake all night and I won't have you sleeping in one of the chairs."

"Killian, there's no reason for"

"Just humor me, love," he said, cutting her off.

"Fine, but I'm not tired right now. You on the other hand are about to pass out standing up."

Killian was about to argue back but a shudder ran through his body and he thought better of it. With drooping eyelids he climbed back into bed and only put up a token resistance as she fixed the blankets and pulled them up to his shoulders. Emma sat on the bed watching him until she was sure he was fast asleep.

Making sure to be as quiet as possible she cleaned up the mess from their meal. She ate the untouched piece of toast and made sure to pile a bunch of napkins on top of her mashed up pie in case Granny saw it in the trash. After a quick run down to the dumpster she settled in for a long night ahead.

The first few hours passed by without incident. The book she had picked turned out to be a pretty good one. It was about a cop trying to solve the murder of a business tycoon. No magic, no fairy tale characters, just a simple who done it novel. She lost herself in the pages only stopping to check on Killian every so often. As the night wore on her eyes began closing in longer and longer intervals until she fell asleep curled in the chair next to the bed.

Emma woke up with a start. She realized she had gotten out of the habit of staying awake until odd hours of the night, a habit she was happy to break. Looking at the clock over her shoulder she saw that it was three in the morning. As she tried to figure out what had woken her she heard Killian muttering from the bed.

Since she had fallen asleep while reading one of the lamps in the room was still on and Emma could see clearly that Killian was awake and sitting up. He had thrown the blankets off him and was covered in a sheen of sweat.

"I see you've come back to finish me off Crocodile. You would think that after the last time you would have realized that you'll never be able to kill me," Killian's voice was filled with fury and his eyes were fixed on a point at the end of the bed.

"Killian?" Emma's voice sounded small and far off to her own ears.

"You think because you disposed of Milah so easily that Emma would go quietly as well?" He continued to address the air in front of him. "Well you were wrong, she's a survivor, just like me."

Emma knew she should do something, try to snap him out of it or call someone but she was frozen in uncertainty. He continued to taunt the non-existent Mr. Gold, sometimes bringing Cora into the conversation, but never once acknowledging Emma's presence.

Slowly, hoping she was just dreaming she finally placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and a spark of recognition flared in his eyes.

"Liam? What are you doing here?"

Emma bit back a sob and pulled away from Killian's extended hand. He continued his conversation with his dead brother as she stumbled over to the desk where she had left her phone. Quickly calling the hospital she was able to stutter out that she needed an ambulance before hanging up and dialing another number.

"Mmm, hello?" The voice answered on the second ring, heavy with sleep.

"Dad? I need your help. I don't know what to do."


	3. Fevered Delay

**I'm so sorry for the delay but for some reason the site wouldn't let me upload the chapter the right way, so I may have figured out a cheat for it...**

**As usual the characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz but now it's time to play.**

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It was six in the morning before Whale came out to talk to them. In a detached part of her mind Emma wondered if there were any other doctors at the hospital or if Whale decided to always take their cases when they came in with an emergency. She then began to contemplate if he was even qualified to be a doctor. Sure, he could piece a corpse back together and reanimate it but what could he know about a working immune system?

A nudge from David brought her attention back to Whale's long winded explanation.

"Like I said it appears to be nothing more than a virulent strain of the flu. You said that he was fully conscious and aware in the hours preceding his hallucinations?"

"Yes," she said clearing her throat. "He had some soup before I gave him some NyQuil. We talked for a little bit after that and then he fell asleep."

"He had no other symptoms before yesterday, correct?" Whale asked making a note on his clipboard.

"Not that I know of. I didn't even know he wasn't feeling well until he showed up at the station with a fever."

Emma thought back to earlier in the week. Nothing jumped out at her that indicated Killian was feeling poorly. They had even been planning another sailing trip with Henry for Sunday.

"We've run a few tests and unfortunately antivirals will be ineffective against the strain of influenza Killian has contracted. There's not much we can do besides maintaining his fluid intake and keeping him comfortable until he can be released. He's sedated now but should be coming out of it in an hour or two. I suggest going home and getting some rest in the mean time," Whale gave them a perfunctory smile and left the waiting room.

"Well, that was," David started.

"Disappointing," Emma concluded.

He had shown up at Killian's room moments before the paramedics did. Emma had been standing behind the desk, frozen, watching Killian converse with ghosts, not even acknowledging her presence. Until David had grasped her shoulder she had almost been convinced that maybe she was the ghost in the room.

When the paramedics arrived Killian snapped and tried to fight them off, believing they were members of Blackbeard's crew. It took three of them to hold him down long enough for one of the paramedics to jab a needle of sedative into his arm. Killian had calmed down quickly after that and in a moment of lucidity his eyes had found Emma's. He brokenly whispered her name once before the drug took full hold and he was strapped onto a stretcher to be taken down to the ambulance.

David had driven them to the hospital in his truck even though Emma had insisted she could drive herself. Mary Margaret was at the loft with Neal, he had informed her, but would join them as soon as she could. Emma kept quiet for the ride despite David's attempts at getting her to tell him what had happened. He quickly gave up and left her to her thoughts.

Killian had already been wheeled into the ICU by the time they arrived. A nurse approached them and quickly asked Emma questions about his symptoms and medical history. After telling him all she could, which wasn't much, they were left with nothing to do but wait.

"Emma," David's voice was calm and comforting. "Let's go back to the loft. You can get some sleep and we'll come back after he's woken up."

"You go ahead," she said as she dropped into one of the molded plastic chairs. "I'll just wait here until he wakes up."

"Emma, you heard Whale, he's not going to be awake for a while. Just come back for a little bit, to freshen up and have something to eat," he pleaded.

"I'll be fine," she argued. "I'll grab something from the vending machines. Although, I wouldn't say no to a coffee from Granny's when you come back."

"Killian won't even notice you're gone. Please, you need a break before you get sick too."

Emma looked up at David standing over her. He was every bit the concerned father, worrying about her well being. Growing up in the foster system hadn't exactly given her the opportunity to know what having that kind of support system was like. It was simultaneously overbearing and comforting and left Emma unsure of how to respond.

"Look, I know Killian won't know if I'm here or not and there's nothing I can do but wait. But that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to sit in this uncomfortable chair, drink the disgusting coffee, and wait for someone to let me know when he's waking up," she dropped her gaze to her hands. "I need to be here when he wakes up."

There was no hesitation when David sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her into his side. He didn't say anything and neither did she. After a moment she dropped her head onto his shoulder, letting out a shuddering breath. She was so tired but sleep was the furthest thing on her mind.

Her traitorous thoughts kept going back to the moment Killian had the spark of awareness. It had been quick but it was almost too much for Emma to bear. His eyes had been full of pain, confusion, and worst of all fear. She had seen him fight countless times, stand up to one villain then the next, and even face his sworn enemy, who was in the process of crushing his heart, all without hesitation or doubt. Now, he was a ship adrift and she was the anchor he had cast into the unknown.

Emma closed her eyes, not to sleep, but to avoid looking at the other people in the waiting room. There weren't many people there with her and her father but they all had the same look of unease and anxiety marring their faces. Closing her eyes meant she didn't have to see her feelings and thoughts projected right back at her.

"How is she?" The sound of Mary Margaret's voice startled her. It was quiet in the waiting room but the hushed murmurs of the other people had covered the sound of her mother joining them.

"Asleep," David answered. "I don't think she got a lot of rest last night from what she told Whale. I tried to get her to go back to the loft but she didn't want to leave."

"I didn't think she would. Belle said she'd watch Neal as long as we needed her to and I called Regina to let her know what was going on. She said she'll be here later with Henry once we have some news. Do we have some news?" Mary Margaret asked hopefully.

"Apparently Killian has the flu. An especially bad case of it but nothing to worry about. He should be coming out of sedation soon, probably ready to leave as soon as he does."

"Sedation? Why did he need to be sedated if it's just the flu?"

Emma still hadn't opened her eyes, not ready to deal with her mother's inquiries. She would let David field the questions until she felt up to answering them herself.

"When I got to his room he was hallucinating, he thought he was talking to Gold and someone named Liam. Emma was as white as a sheet just watching him," he took in a deep breath. "The paramedics came in right after I did and Killian lost it, raving about Blackbeard, trying to fight them off. We had to hold him down so they could sedate him."

Mary Margaret gasped as Emma tried not to flinch at hearing David's take on what happened.

"Has she said anything? It didn't seem this bad when you talked to her yesterday."

"It wasn't apparently. I guess it was a good thing she stayed with him after all," David said with reluctance.

"David, sometimes I can't believe how dense you can be," Mary Margaret said incredulously.

Emma knew she should 'wake up' but her curiosity overwhelmed her. While her parents had been nothing but supportive of her relationship with Killian she wasn't kidding herself into thinking they understood it. Especially David, he tended to take his role as overprotective father a little too seriously. So she kept her breathing even and her eyes closed.

"What do you mean 'dense'? What are you talking about?"

"You know how long it took for her to accept us as her parents and I don't mean knowing that we are her parents. It took a portal to the past and the possibility of altering the future for her to finally understand that we're a family. That Storybrooke is where she belongs. Emma has a hard enough time letting her walls down, trusting people. You might not want to see it but Killian is a big part of that. He's a big part of her life. She trusts him."

Emma heard Mary Margaret sit down and David's body turned automatically towards her.

"I know that," he assured her. "It's not that I don't trust him, I do. He's proven himself plenty of times."

"Then what is it? Because if you keep this up you'll just end up pushing her away."

David's shoulder shifted slightly under Emma's head, a sign of his discomfort. She felt him turn to look at her and tried not to tip him off that she was awake.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. It feels like we've only started being a real family. I know this is selfish but I thought we'd have more time with her just being our daughter."

"Oh, David," Mary Margaret sighed. "Isn't it time you realized that we'll never have a normal relationship with Emma? That doesn't mean we're not a family or diminish the fact that you are still her father. We're all still trying to figure out how we fit together. That means Killian too."

They fell into a silence that Emma interpreted as one of the moments when her parents communicated through looks alone. She had thought that most of David's friction with Killian was Killian's less than illustrious past and wanting to protect her from the notorious pirate. While that was part of it she had no idea how to process what her father had admitted or even what Mary Margaret had implied.

Before she could spiral into the confused mire of her thoughts David sat up and placed his hand on her arm to wake her up. Trying to put on a good show she breathed deeply, let her eyes open slowly, and then stretched out the kinks in her back and neck. Mid-way through her stretch she realized that Whale was at the nurses' desk. He was talking to the nurse but his body was turning toward the waiting room as he did. Emma quickly stood up, abandoning all pretense that she had recently been asleep.

"Emma," Mary Margaret's voice came from behind her. "Try not to worry, I'm sure if it was something urgent Victor would let us know right away."

"Victor, hmph," David grumbled almost inaudibly.

Emma ignored them both and waited for Whale to make his way over to them. While he didn't appear to be delivering bad news he didn't look as if he would be telling them good news either. He stopped in front of Emma but addressed all three of them.

"Killian is coming around now. Unfortunately, he's not doing as well as we would like," Whale began solemnly. "He still has a low grade fever and is still experiencing a sore throat along with aching joints. While these are typical of the flu the sudden onset of the disease and severity of the symptoms have me concerned. We'd like to keep him here overnight for observation."

"Can," Emma's voice trembled and she cleared her throat to steady it. "Can I see him?"

"Of course, he's been asking for you. However, I'll have to insist you wear a face mask when you go in to see him."

"Why? I was with him all day yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've already been infected by now."

"It's not for your safety, Miss Swan, it's for his," he cautioned her. "If you're ready I'll take you to his room."

She turned to face her parents, trying but not quite succeeding in keeping her face composed. Mary Margaret stood up and reached out for Emma, who gratefully fell into her arms. She wouldn't let herself cry, Killian didn't need to see her with red rimmed eyes, instead she held on to Mary Margaret tightly. Another set of arms surrounded her as David joined them.

When she finally felt like she could hold herself together she stepped back, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Are you okay waiting here?" She asked, hoping they understood that she needed them to be there for her when she got back.

"Emma, don't worry about us," Mary Margaret answered. "We'll be fine out here, you go ahead."

Giving them a feeble smile she turned and followed Whale as he led her down several hallways deeper into the hospital. After the fourth turn down an identical corridor she stopped trying to keep track of where she was and hoped that there were signs that would get her back out again. Finally they stopped outside a door and Whale explained where she could find the box of masks in the room. He smiled gently at her before retreating back the way they came.

Steeling herself for whatever condition Killian was in she opened the door. It was a small room with a sleeping Killian as the only occupant. The bed was facing the door and it was raised, propping him up. She quietly walked over to a sink area where there were boxes of gloves and masks lined up on the counter. Pulling a mask out she put it on, feeling slightly ridiculous as she adjusted the bendable metal strip across the nose so it fit better.

"That's a fetching look for you Swan," Killian rasped from behind her.

She spun around surprised that he was awake. His eyes were still closed but there was a small smile turning up the corners of his lips. There were various wires snaking out from the top of his hospital gown and an IV line leading from his right elbow to the drip bag hanging over his bed. The hospital bed and gown combined with the harsh fluorescent lights made him seem diminished, as though he had been drained of some essential force.

"You should take a look in the mirror yourself," she murmured half-heartedly, her voice muffled by the mask.

"I don't need to, love," he said as he opened his eyes. "Despite how I feel, I know I'm still as devilishly handsome as always."

"Don't," she warned him, suddenly tired of pretending that everything was alright. "We can't just shrug this off with a joke, they want to keep you here overnight. This is serious Killian."

"I'm well aware of that, Swan," he said tiredly, dropping his head back on his pillows and staring at the ceiling. "Having been here before I'm familiar with the circumstances of being confined in this institution. Although, this time I do appreciate not being shackled to the bed."

Emma cracked an unwilling smile and walked over to the bed. There were no chairs in the room so she stood over Killian who turned his head to look at her. His eyes were still dulled from the sedative but she could detect a small glimmer in them as he gazed up at her. Figuring they would have some privacy for a while she nudged his legs to the other side of the bed as she sat on it, cross legged, facing him.

"What have they told you?" she asked as she reached across his body to grab his hand, letting their entwined fingers come to rest on his stomach.

"Seemingly a lot of nonsense, but I came to understand that things are not quite as they appear. I may not know exactly what they said but their demeanor told me all I needed to know."

The bitterness in his voice stopped Emma from giving him hollow reassurances. Instead she increased her grip on his hand and looked towards the only window in the room. It only offered her a bleak view of the hospital parking lot but it was better than letting him see how worried she was. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his left arm reach up towards her hesitantly before feeling the unhooked stump gently turn her head to look at him.

Killian had rarely let Emma see his damaged arm without the sheath that usually covered it in place. After their first official date he had become even more determined that she shouldn't have to subject herself to what he saw as a physical reminder of his inadequacy. She had tried to let him know him numerous times that she didn't care, that it made no impact on how she felt about him but he refused to believe her. Feeling the warm, scarred skin of his ruined arm under her chin instead of cold unyielding metal caused her throat to close up and tears to prick the back of her eyes.

He didn't say anything but he didn't need to, she could read him just as well as he could her. Holding his arm out he motioned for her to lay down next to him. Without a second thought she unfolded her legs and stretched out beside him, letting her head come to rest on his chest. While the mask over her face was uncomfortable and the bed was far too small for two people Emma found herself drifting off as Killian began running his fingers through her hair. Before she could make up an excuse to leave she slipped into a dreamless sleep listening to his heartbeat beat steadily in her ear.


	4. Fevered Hopes

**I would like to thank all the followers, favorites, and comments I've received on this story so far. It means a lot that there are people out there enjoying what my imagination has to offer.**

**As usual these characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz. Let's play.**

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"There's no need to wake her, just do what you need to do."

"I'm sorry Mr. Jones but we need to to take some X-rays and run some tests. She is welcome to return to the waiting room until we've finished."

"Look, love, I'm sure what needs to be done is important and I'm happy to comply with whatever is required of me but please allow me a moment or two longer with her."

"Okay. I can give you five minutes but that's all."

The whisper of fabric and squeak of rubber soled shoes retreating followed by the obvious attempts at closing the door quietly dragged Emma back to full consciousness. She was curled into Killian's side, her arm draped across his stomach and her legs were tangled in his, despite the fact that her boots were still on. She stiffened slightly as she became aware of her position only to relax when Killian pulled her closer into him.

"Well, Swan, it looks like you're being forced to abandon ship," he murmured into her hair.

"Doesn't that mean that the ship is going down?" She asked propping her chin on his chest to look up at him.

"Aye, but don't fret, love, it's merely a figure of speech in this instance," Killian huffed in amusement which quickly devolved into a cough.

He tried to stifle it but that only caused the coughing to increase. Emma quickly sat up and fumbled with the controls to raise the bed. His cough was loud in the small room and had a wet, phlegmy sound to it. After the fit subsided Killian dropped back on his pillow and tried to catch his breath. Noticing a pitcher on a table by the bed Emma stood up and poured some water for him.

"Killian?"

"I'm alright, love," he rasped.

"I have some water here," she said quietly, sloshing the liquid in the cup.

Killian took the cup without looking directly at her. This was new territory for them. This wasn't some villain doing whatever possible to get what they want, no magic spells or Dark Ones. It was just something that normal people dealt with all the time, illnesses and nurses and being there for someone. Emma wasn't sure she knew how to do normal anymore and Killian's idea of normal was found in Henry's book

It was then that it occurred to Emma that, for Killian, the things she considered normal were possibly beyond comprehension for him. She didn't know what illnesses they caught in the Enchanted Forest, for all she knew Dragon Pox was a real thing and not just from Harry Potter. Even a hospital was a foreign concept, based on what she had seen from her trips to her parents' land. Killian was not only struggling with the flu but with understanding and trusting the institutions that Emma took for granted.

"Hey," she said softly placing her hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head toward her but only raised his gaze to the mask still covering the lower half of her face. She silently cursed the thing, wishing to rip it off so he could see her frown but with the sound of his cough still ringing in her ears she didn't dare. Placing her other hand under his chin she tipped his head back enough to make him look directly into her eyes.

"You don't need to worry, you know," she reassured him and herself.

"I'm not worried, Swan," he huffed indignantly. "Let them do their bloody tests and rays, whatever it takes to get me out of here."

"X-rays," she corrected him absently. He was putting up walls, not intentionally but she could feel them coming between them. She knew that there was only one way to reach him, to keep him from pulling away.

"When I was eight I was in this foster home that had taken on too many kids. I don't know if it was for the money or because the woman convinced her husband they could care for all of us. Either way I had to share a bed with this girl who had really bad nightmares. Sometimes they were so bad that she would start lashing out in her sleep. One night I was sleeping too close to the edge of the bed and she had a nightmare. She knocked me off and I landed on my arm, breaking it in two places.

"The husband took me to the hospital. He was angry that I had woken him up in the middle of the night and was muttering about Social Services not believing that it had actually been an accident. When we got to the ER he left me alone with the nurses, having decided that I was already too much to be bothered with. I was so scared and alone and even though the staff was nice they weren't what I needed. I just wanted someone to hold me and tell me that everything was going to be okay, that there was nothing to be worried about. A few days after that I was shipped back to a group home. We all were. I've pretty much avoided hospitals from then on, Henry's birth being the exception. Until I came to Storybrooke, actually. It seems like I'm here every other week now."

Emma was staring out the window, the pain of sharing a part of her past too much to handle. She was still getting used to letting him see the damaged parts of her, the things that she had shared with no one, choosing to bury them under layers of self preservation and distrust. Yet, she had let Killian in without hesitation because they were cut from the same cloth and he understood what it meant that she had done so.

"Emma," his voice pulled her attention back to him. "There's something I need you to get for me."

She inclined her head willing to do whatever he asked of her. Aside from sneaking him out the back, however.

"Sure."

"In my room there's a piece of leather with a gold military insignia upon it. I would greatly appreciate it if you could bring it to me," his adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "It was my brother's."

Before Emma could articulate an answer the door opened to reveal a nurse pushing a wheelchair in front of her. From the look on her face there would be no more negotiating for more time. Emma turned back to Killian leaning down to touch her forehead to his.

"Of course. I'll be here when they're done," she promised.

"Will you promise me one more thing, love? Try and prevent them from putting that blue wiggling monstrosity on my tray this time," he said with a grimace.

"It's still called Jell-O. I'll make sure that it's red this time, all of the red flavors are good," she said smiling behind the mask before turning to the nurse. "How long will the tests take?"

"Only an hour or two but then Mr. Jones will need to get some rest. Visiting hours resume at three and you'll be welcome to join him then," the nurse said sternly as she kept the various wires and tubes from tangling as Killian moved from the bed to the wheelchair.

"Okay," she said leaning down to whisper in Killian's ear. "I'll see you in an hour or two."

Standing up she brushed his hair off his forehead, a poor substitute for a kiss goodbye but still better than nothing. Before she could step back to let the nurse wheel him out Killian grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. He smiled up at her and only let go when the nurse pushed him beyond his reach.

Emma looked around the room before stepping out into the hallway. Just as she thought she had no idea how to get back to the waiting room she had originally come from. With some help from various nurses and signs posted along the way she finally arrived, having taken only two wrong turns.

The waiting room was filled with more people than it had been that morning. After a moment she found Mary Margaret sitting alone reading a book. Emma made her way over quickly, ready for a break from the hospital.

"Mom, where's Dad?" She asked as soon as she was close enough.

"Hmm? Oh, Emma!" she said startled, looking up at her. "Your father's back at the loft. He kept complaining about how uncomfortable the chairs were so I sent him home to get some sleep. How's Killian doing?"

"About as well as a former pirate being stuck in an unfamiliar environment with the flu can be," she remarked, trying to avoid voicing her fears. "Complaining about the Jell-O again."

"So, a little irritable and itching to be anywhere but here? Just like your father," Mary Margaret quipped.

Emma knew that her mother was filled with questions about the diagnosis, why she was in the waiting room with her, and what had happened the night before but she kept quiet. Emma appreciated Mary Margaret's willingness to wait, knowing that pushing for information would just cause Emma to shut down.

"They're doing some tests and taking some X-rays now. We have about two hours until he's done. I'm definitely going to use that time to take a shower and get something to eat, I'm starving," Emma said, glossing over the first part in what she hoped was a casual manner.

Mary Margaret opened her mouth to say something but ended up shaking her head and gathering her things. They left the hospital and got into Mary Margaret's car. The ride back into town was as conversation free as Emma's earlier trip with David. In an attempt to drown out the silence Emma had turned up the radio but even classic rock couldn't ease the tension she felt waiting for Mary Margaret to inundate her with questions.

"Did you want to go to home first or Granny's?" Mary Margaret asked as she took the final turn into town.

"Home, definitely," Emma answered quickly. "I'll feel more myself once I've cleaned up and I don't smell like a doctor's office."

David was still asleep when they entered the loft but woke as soon as Mary Margaret closed the door behind them. Emma used his confused questions to her mother as a chance to slip up to her room and once again avoid talking about what was going on with Killian. Grabbing a fresh set of clothes she strode purposefully back down the stairs and straight to the bathroom without pause.

She knew that her parent's were worried about her. It seemed they would always find something to be concerned about when it came to her life. Emma didn't know how to respond to their concerns and it bothered her. She should be able to tell her mother how she felt, that with Killian's illness she was lost and worried about what might happen. That being kept in the hospital meant that something other than the flu was wrong with him.

The hot water cascaded over her shoulders as she willed herself to relax and enjoy the moment alone. She felt her lack of sleep and skipped meals acutely. What she needed was a hot meal and a long nap. Knowing that the nap was out of the question she daydreamed about the former until the hot water ran out forcing her to quickly finish her shower.

"I think Belle should keep Neal for a little while longer. At least until we find out the results of the tests their running and finally get some answers," Mary Margaret's voice filtered through the door as soon as Emma shut off the water.

"Are you sure? I know you don't like to be away from him for long," David's voice was quieter but still easy to hear.

Emma quietly dried off and dressed listening to their conversation.

"I'm sure. Emma needs us right now and watching Neal is good for Belle. Besides, I don't want to become one of those 'helicopter moms' Emma keeps mumbling about."

Taking that as her cue Emma opened the bathroom door and joined her parents sitting at the kitchen island. She pulled her hair into a low ponytail as she glanced between the guilty looks on their faces.

"Don't worry. If you were really a helicopter mom you wouldn't have let Belle watch Neal in the first place. At least not without a ten page instruction booklet on how to take care of him," she watched amused as a blush bloomed across Mary Margaret's face and David buried his grin behind his coffee mug.

"It was only one page," Mary Margaret mumbled.

"Front and back?" Emma asked.

"Color coded and laminated," David supplied the answer. "She made it at the office when she was supposed to be dividing funds for charity groups."

"I just wanted to make sure that Belle would be prepared for anything," Mary Margaret said sheepishly.

"Did you want some coffee, Emma?" David asked already turning to grab her mug from the dish drain.

"No, I'll get some at Granny's," she said absently as she pulled out her phone. "I need to let Regina know that Henry needs to stay with her the rest of the weekend."

"I already did," Mary Margaret informed her. "Henry still wants to visit Killian this afternoon. They'll stop by when visiting hours start again."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. They have Killian in a single room and the masks you have to wear…" The rest of Emma's weak argument died on her lips when she saw the looks her parents were giving her.

"I think Killian would appreciate seeing Henry and I know Henry is worried about him too. You don't have to be alone in this Emma," Mary Margaret reached over and placed her hand on Emma's.

Alone. It always took Emma aback when she remembered that it wasn't just her looking out for herself anymore. She knew she took on too much, shouldered every burden, pushed others away in an attempt to be strong, and nearly crumbled when it became too much. Finding her parents and being with Killian had helped her realize that opening up and trusting others wasn't a weakness but a sign of strength.

"I know," she sighed. "I'm still getting used to people being there for me."

"We'll always be here for you," David said vehemently, grabbing Emma's other hand.

They sat in silence, a moment of comfort and reassurance passing between them. Then the moment passed. No words were exchanged as David grabbed his mug to place in the sink and Mary Margaret walked over to where she had flung her coat on the bed. Emma smiled gently to herself as she climbed up the stairs to grab her boots and her own coat.

Mary Margaret insisted that they drove Emma to Granny's. After a half hearted attempt to dissuade her Emma had agreed. Her bug was still there and she wasn't up for walking after a night of nearly no sleep. All three piled into David's truck, quiet but without the unease Emma had felt on her previous rides.

Granny's was nearly empty, having already served the lunch rush. Emma paused at the counter to thank Granny for the soup and order a sandwich before heading up to Killian's room. She assured her parents that she was just grabbing a few things for Killian and she'd be back down quickly.

Entering the room Emma was unprepared to see the destruction that had taken place the night before. Killian's struggle with the paramedics had knocked almost everything off the desk and upended the chair Emma had been sitting in by the bed. Books and papers were strewn across the floor. It hadn't seemed as bad when she had left but in the light of day it looked as though a tornado had torn through the room.

Slowly she started picking up things and putting them in their proper places. She knew that her parents would wonder what was taking her so long but she couldn't help it. Cleaning up the room was something productive, something tangible she could fix.

Finally the room was set to rights. She had even taken the time to make the bed up with a fresh set of sheets she had found in a closet down the hall. Emma knew she was stalling despite her anxiousness to be back at the hospital with Killian. The mundaneness of cleaning up had allowed her to turn off her thoughts for a blessed break from all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

Finding the leather piece Killian had asked for hadn't been as hard as she had feared it would be. It had fallen out of the pillow case when Emma was changing the sheets. She found it endearing that even after all the years of traveling and curses he kept it close.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret's voice broke through her musings.

"Hmm?" Emma looked up at her mother from the bed. She had been gently rubbing the gold emblem with her thumb, her gaze ahead of her unfocused.

"Are you okay? You've been up here a while," Mary Margaret said gently as she sat next to Emma.

"I'm fine," she answered automatically, still fiddling with the leather between her fingers.

Mary Margaret sighed but didn't push further. Emma finally felt like she wanted to talk but didn't know how or even where to start. As much as she hated the thought she wished that her first true friend hadn't also turned out to be her mother. There were things that Emma wanted to tell Mary Margaret but it wasn't something that she felt comfortable sharing with a mom. Realizing that it was unfair to Mary Margaret she took a steadying breath not knowing where to begin.

"I don't know if I can do this anymore," Emma said surprising herself. She had intended to explain why she had taken so long but the words had popped out unbidden.

"Do what?" Mary Margaret asked as she turned fully towards Emma.

"Be this person who never gets a break. The instant something good happens something comes along and messes it up. I just want a moment where I don't have to worry about the other shoe to drop."

"Oh, Emma," Mary Margaret sighed. "You can't live your life worrying that things are going to go wrong."

"But that's just it, they do! Every time from the moment I was born. I know that wasn't your fault and I'm not blaming you, I'm not. It's been this constant string of disappointments and heartbreaks and I'm tired of it. Even being the Savior hasn't changed anything. It's almost worse now."

Emma focused her attention on the leather in her hands willing the tears gathered in her eyes not to fall. She hadn't meant to be so honest but her night of broken rest and continual worry over Killian had lowered her walls completely. Mary Margaret remained uncharacteristically quiet by her side. Emma took a shaky breath, waiting out her mother's silence.

"Are you happy here? With us and with Henry?"

"Of course," Emma answered, head shooting up to look at Mary Margaret, taken aback by the questions. "I finally have a home but…"

"Do you wish Henry never found you and brought you to Storybrooke?"

"No, it was probably the best birthday I'd ever had to be honest."

"And your magic?"

"Well, now that I've gotten it under control it's not such a bad thing," Emma said becoming amused with Mary Margaret's line of questioning.

"Killian?"

That brought Emma up short. She had never analyzed her feelings for Killian, not consciously at least. It was easier to just enjoy what they had together. He had given her so many things that she hadn't experienced before that putting it into words seemed next to impossible.

"You don't need to answer that right now," Mary Margaret said, smiling gently. "But you need to know that you have wonderful, amazing things in your life. Even when things are going wrong there are things that will make it right.

"No one has an easy life, Emma. Your father didn't, I haven't, Killian, Henry, Belle, Regina, I could go on and on but I think I've made my point. Focusing on what's gone wrong will only hurt you and push other people away. Emma, you've lived your life that way for too long. You need to believe that you're on your way to a happy ending. Your happy ending."

Emma felt the tears well up in her eyes again. Mary Margaret noticed and quickly pulled her into a hug. She was as quick to reciprocate, wrapping her arms around her mother, taking comfort from the embrace. They remained that way until Emma noticed the chirping coming from her pocket.

Pulling out her phone she saw an unfamiliar number on the screen. Sending a questioning glance at Mary Margaret she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Miss Swan?" A vaguely familiar male voice asked.

"Yes?"

"It's Dr. Whale," Whale's voice sounded urgent. "We need you to come back to the hospital as soon as possible."

"Why? What's happened?" Emma asked frantically.

"Mr. Jones has experienced some complications."

"Complications? What do you mean complications?"

"It's a little too detailed to tell you over the phone. I'm sorry, I'll explain more when you get here." Whale said cautiously. "And Miss Swan?"

"Yes?" She said shakily.

"Please hurry."


	5. Fevered Truth

**Please excuse any medical fallacies I may have created. I'm definitely not a doctor and I tried to get it to sound as medically truthful as possible without having any kind of training.**

**Of course, these characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz. Let's play.**

* * *

Whale's office was unlike any doctor's office Emma had ever been in. Instead of degrees and generic diagrams lining the wall there were highly detailed sketches of various body parts on parchment paper side by side with intricate formulas that she couldn't make heads or tails of. There were no filing cabinets filled with patient information but two giant bookcases, both filled with heavy looking ledgers. She had been ushered in there by a nurse as soon as she had entered the hospital but Whale had yet to make an appearance.

Too restless to sit for long she had been studying the drawings that had obviously been made by Whale himself. She remembered reading Frankenstein in high school, the mad scientist too entranced by what could be done to consider if it should. Wondering how closely Mary Shelley's tale came to Whale's and how he came to Storybrooke in the first place Emma slowly walked around the office. She was peering closely at a charcoal sketch of the ligaments and muscles of a hand when the door opened behind her.

Turning around Emma was surprised to see Regina walking into the room ahead of Whale. He gestured for them to sit as he settled behind his desk. Regina looked as confused as Emma felt but sat without comment. Emma followed suit, a thousand questions dancing on the tip of her tongue.

"I'm sorry for the delay Miss Swan," Whale began.

"Would you please just call me Emma?" she said exasperated. "I'm in no mood for formalities. What is going on? Is Killian alright? You tell me that it's urgent that I get here and then I'm forced to wait. Why is Regina here? She hasn't seen Killian in days."

"I don't know what I'm doing here either, Emma," Regina said pointedly to Whale. "The good doctor here called me and said that he needed to discuss something important with me."

They both looked at Whale expectantly.

"I needed both of you here to be able to help me figure out what, exactly, is wrong with Mr. Jones," Whale explained. "Emma, you've spent the most time with him. Can you tell us anything about his past that might help?"

"Why are you asking me? He's perfectly capable of telling you himself," Emma began heatedly but quickly understood what Whale was getting at. "Unless he can't. What aren't you telling me?"

"Mr. Jones was fine through the X-ray and then when the nurses were taking samples of his blood for testing. He was running a mild fever, told us he had a headache and was still a little lethargic in his movements. The cough he had developed is normal for the influenza virus but I was alarmed to notice how quickly it had come about and how serious it had become in the few short hours since I'd seen him last.

"Shortly after he returned to his room his fever spiked. He exhibited signs of delirium so we had to sedate him for his safety and the safety of the staff. It wasn't until I was able to examine his X-rays that I truly became concerned."

If Emma hadn't already been sitting down her knees would have buckled forcing her to. Whale had told her it was just the flu. How could something so commonplace be wreaking such havoc?

"I still don't understand what I'm doing here." Regina said impatiently.

"I would appreciate a little patience," Whale snapped. He rubbed his hand across his face tiredly. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. It's been a trying few hours"

"What was wrong with his X-ray?" Emma asked quietly.

"First let me explain that I only ordered an X-ray to be done on a hunch. Influenza is mainly a respiratory disease with varied symptoms that can also affect other areas of the body. Generally a typical adult male in Mr. Jones' age range can rely on their immune system to fight the disease with no complications."

"I don't think there's anyone in Killian's age range," she murmured, as Regina scoffed in amusement beside her.

"What do you mean?" Whale asked confused.

"He's a couple centuries old," Emma stated matter of factly. "He spent a while in Neverland and then, under Cora's protection, waited out the curse back in the Enchanted Forest."

"Really?" he sat back in his chair processing the information. "That may not fully explain what's happening but it's a step in the right direction."

"Get to the point Whale we don't have all day," Regina snapped impatiently.

"Sorry, your highness," Whale said sarcastically. Turning to Emma his tone was softer. "I could hear severe congestion in his lungs when I examined him early this morning. I had them take the X-ray of his chest due to the sudden appearance and intensity of his cough.

"The films showed airspace consolidation on both of his lungs that are characteristic of pneumonia. I can't be sure of that diagnosis until the results of his tests come back but I don't doubt that I'm right. Once it's confirmed as pneumonia and if the infection is bacterial then we can start him on a regimen of antibiotics."

"And if it's not?" Emma asked in a small voice. Her hand sought out the worn leather piece in her pocket and gripped it forcefully, feeling the gold emblem digging into her hand.

"Then we decide on a different course of treatment," he supplied, folding his hands on his desk. "Unfortunately, this isn't my main concern at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Regina asked.

"The progression of Mr. Jones' illness is highly alarming. If what Emma told me earlier this morning is correct he seemingly came down with influenza overnight and it has progressed to pneumonia in a little over twenty-four hours. I'm not going to go far as to say it's medically impossible but it is highly improbable. This is why I need your assistance Ms. Mills."

"Mine?" Regina said taken aback.

"Rumor has it that Mr. Jones' heart was taken by Gold and then returned by Emma. Seeing as how I can't question Gold about the magic," Whale grimaced at the word. "You're the only source of information I can find on the subject. You've also removed a heart or two in your lifetime, so you're also the best qualified to provide answers."

"I'm not some encyclopedia on all things magic. Gold has probably forgotten more magic than I could learn in a lifetime," Regina ground out irritated.

"We're running out of options Ms. Mills," Whale said forcefully.

Emma felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. There were no sounds, no movement, as Whale's words rang in her head. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Regina's mouth open and close as though several thoughts were fighting for release. Whale was scrubbing his face with his hands tiredly, apparently trying to push away his fatigue. She couldn't comprehend how everything had been good, really good, only to have it come crashing down around her.

"I'm sorry for my outburst but there's no way for me to predict what might happen next. He's been moved to an isolated room meant for patients with highly communicable airborne illnesses such as tuberculosis but in this case we've moved him there to keep his own exposure to diseases to a minimum. The nurses and myself wear respirators and take steps to sterilize ourselves before treating him. Unfortunately there's only so much we can do," he sighed.

"I'll see what I can find in my spellbooks but I went through them cover to cover when Marian was cursed by the Snow Queen. I don't remember seeing anything remotely close to what's going on here," Regina said apprehensively.

Whale seemed to deflate slightly at her hesitance.

"There's something else I need to ask. Was there some sort of protection you added to the curse that brought us here, both times?" He asked cautiously.

"Protection? No, I had to add that later, after Kurt and Owen stumbled into town. Gold had Belle add another protection spell when we were in Neverland. Zelena and the Snow Queen had their own ways of keeping people out, or in, depending."

"Good to know that the Storybrooke is pretty much like that movie The Village," Emma remarked. "Monsters keeping us in and good intentions keeping others out."

Regina and Whale turned to Emma with puzzled looks on their faces. She almost burst out laughing which would have been a relief. There was too much happening all at once and Emma could feel the panic clawing at her insides but the urge to laugh, to know that she still could, was encouraging. All hope wasn't lost if she could find even the tiniest amount of humor in the situation.

"That's not exactly what I was referring to," Whale said bemused. "I was wondering if you might have put some kind of immunity or safeguard into the curse to keep us from getting sick."

After a moment's consideration Regina's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Yes, I did as a matter of fact. I had no idea what this land had in store for us and without magic we were vulnerable to anything that might happen," she explained. "I made sure that we wouldn't be susceptible to the unknown illnesses here. My revenge wouldn't have been a success if half the town died from a plague as soon as we got here."

"But Killian didn't come over with the curse," Emma protested. "He's used a magic bean both times to get here."

"Exactly!" Whale exclaimed, banging his hand on his desk. "Mr. Jones isn't under the protection that Ms. Mills has put on the town. It would explain why he's sick but no one else in Storybrooke has even a small case of the sniffles. Sneezy notwithstanding."

"Who could have given him the flu then? If no one in town has been sick then there's no possible way he could have been infected," she said agitated.

"I'm not sure but I have a theory," he said carefully. "I believe that there might be a small amount of protection on the town itself and not just the inhabitants. Mr. Jones has been outside of Storybrooke, correct?"

"Yes," Emma answered. "He's been to New York twice. The second time he went straight there to get me and Henry before coming to Storybrooke."

"Are you saying that he picked up the flu from the streets of New York months ago and he's only getting sick now?" Regina's voice was laced with disbelief. "Where's the logic in that?"

"I never said this was going to make sense but it's what I'm working with," he said flatly. "I think being in Storybrooke was keeping him from getting sick, acting as a kind of suppressant on the virus. When Gold removed his heart it might have weakened the protection he was under, just enough for the virus to take hold.

"There is no flu in the Enchanted Forest, as far as I know, so he has no natural immunity to the disease. I'm not even sure a vaccine shot would have been effective. Ms. Mills, is it possible you can recreate the spell or potion that protects the town?"

"I believe so," Regina said thoughtfully. "It may take me some time to gather the ingredients."

"Time is something we may not have much of but I'll do everything I can to give you as much of it as needed," Whale said, standing from his desk and moving towards the door. "Feel free to use my office for the time being. I'm sorry but I need to check on the test results and on Mr. Jones. Good luck, ladies."

The door closed quietly behind him as Emma stared unseeing at his desk. She pulled her hand holding the leather band out of her pocket wondering if she would ever get the chance to get it to Killian. He was unconscious, stuck in a sterile room, and quickly falling prey to an illness that may have been prevented and then allowed by magic. Her hopes rested on a man who reanimated corpses and a woman who, at best, merely tolerated her presence.

"I need to go to my vault for some things and Gold's shop for the rest," Regina stated as she stood to leave.

"Wait, you're going to help? You're not even going to complain about it?" Emma asked incredulously.

"I may not be a fan of the heart eyes you two send at each other but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do anything," Regina scoffed. "Look, you're helping me find the Author so I can get my happy ending. I'm not going to stand by and watch you lose yours."

Emma's jaw dropped and she found herself at a loss for words. It had always been Emma seeking out a friendship with Regina, making amends, and being there for her after Robin left. Not only that Regina had never been an advocate for her relationship with Killian, barely tolerating them at times. Regina gave her a small encouraging smile and left before Emma could say anything in return.

Left alone in the office again Emma contemplated going out to the waiting room where she was sure her parents and Henry were. It didn't take her long to rule out that option. Her family meant well but they would inundate her with questions and then seek out answers for themselves. She just wanted to sit in the quiet and solitude of the office and let her own thoughts have a chance to settle down.

She sent a text to Mary Margaret, barely explaining what was going on and that she needed some time alone. Regina would be able to fill them in on the finer details and answer their questions better than Emma could at the moment. Without waiting for a response she turned off her phone, setting it on the desk.

Leaning back into her chair she went back to gently fiddling with the leather strap between her fingers. It wasn't constructive and she knew she should be finding her own way to help Killian but she felt too drained to do anything else. Her thoughts wandered idly from one thing to another as her fingers danced across the golden emblem. Soon she didn't have any thoughts at all as she fell into a dreamless sleep.


	6. Fevered Blow

**I know most phones divide texts by sender and not by time sent but I'm bending the capabilities of technology because I can.**

**Cheers to Kitsis and Horowitz for creating the characters but I think it's time to play.**

* * *

The first thing Emma noticed was that it was too warm. Her skin felt clammy and her throat seemed to stick as she tried to swallow. Remembering where she was and why she was there she jerked awake in a moment of panic. A hospital blanket slid noiselessly to the floor. Someone must have covered her with it without waking her, a testament to how exhausted she truly was.

After finding a bottle of water in the mini fridge Emma drank deeply, soothing her throat. She immediately felt better, stamping down the worry that she was getting sick as well. It wouldn't have surprised her but it would have been a major inconvenience. Getting in to see Killian would be hard enough without being a walking contaminant too.

Other than the blanket there were no other signs that someone had been in the office. The clock on the wall let her know it was past five. With a shocked look out the window she saw that the sun was already descending in the sky, confirmation that she had slept for hours.

She was dismayed that in all that time nothing had changed, someone would have woken her if it had. Telling herself that no news was good news didn't help when an equally strong voice was telling her that the more time wasted, the more likely that nothing could be done. She had never mastered having a positive outlook in a situation but she knew it was time to see the people who did. Grabbing her phone from her desk she turned it back on.

As it buzzed to life she saw that she had only three missed calls and a handful of texts. Regina or Whale must have told them what was going on. Reading through the texts confirmed her thoughts.

**MM:** Where are you? Regina told us that you needed to be alone. Is everything okay?

**MM:** Do you need anything?

**David: **Whale explained what was going on. Call your mother she's worried.

**MM:** Just called and went straight to voicemail. Call me when you get this.

**David:** Taking Henry to get food at Granny's. Let me know if you want anything.

**The Kid:** Granny said that she'd make you anything so I ordered you a milkshake but it's for me. Make sure to tell Grandpa that you don't want it so I can have it.

**David:** Henry ordered you a milkshake I know you don't want. When we get back give it to me. Teach him to be sneaky.

**David:** Call your mother.

**MM:** I'm picking up Neal but I'll be back soon. Don't worry Emma, everything is going to be okay.

Mary Margaret's last message was time stamped only fifteen minutes prior. She quickly sent a text to all of them that she was awake and they could join her in Whale's office. After her impromptu nap a meal from Granny's was welcome. Thinking back on it, she hadn't had a full meal since breakfast the day before and that was just a quick bowl of cereal.

It wasn't long before the door of the office opened and Mary Margaret let herself in, carrying Neal in her arms. Emma quickly stood and grabbed the diaper bag threatening to slide off her mother's shoulder.

"No stroller?"

"Oh, no. I've barely held him all day," Mary Margaret cooed at Neal as she sat down.

"Sorry," Emma said quietly setting the bag on the floor by the desk.

"Emma, that's not what I meant," her mother chastised. She looked up at Emma frowning. "Your father and I will always be here for you no matter what."

Shifting Neal in her arms Mary Margaret reached out and grabbed Emma's hand, squeezing gently. The concern in her mother's eyes was almost too much to bear. Emma gave her a watery smile in return, her emotions having rocketed from one extreme to another over the course of Killian's illness.

"What did Regina tell you?" Emma asked after taking a moment to steady her voice.

"That Killian was sicker than we realized and it might have to do with Gold taking his heart. She mentioned something about a protection spell, said goodbye to Henry, and then left without any other explanation."

"And Whale?"

"He only came out to tell us you were sleeping in his office about an hour ago. We haven't seen him since."

Emma wondered if it was Whale who covered her with a blanket or one of the nurses. More importantly she thought about why he didn't tell her parents anything concerning Killian. He knew perfectly well that their family always worked as a unit, for better or for worse.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Mary Margaret asked gently.

"I will, but is it okay if we wait for Dad and Henry? I don't think I can explain it twice."

"Of course."

They waited quietly, listening to Neal babble at Mary Margaret. He was generally a happy baby and spoiled rotten by the people of Storybrooke. With a pang Emma realized that her life would have been the same if she hadn't been destined to be the Savior. Pushing aside regrets for a non-existent past she sat down next to Mary Margaret.

A quiet knock on the door let them know that David and Henry were there with the food. Before Emma could stand to open the door Henry burst through, launching himself into her arms. She was surprised but wrapped her arms around him none the less.

"It's alright Mom, Mom is totally going to get that protection spell here soon," her son beamed up at her, eyes full of hope.

"Did Regina call?" Emma asked looking up at David.

"Not yet, but I'm sure she will soon," he answered, letting her down gently.

David and Henry spread the food out across the desk and watched in horror as Emma handed her milkshake over to Mary Margaret. She smiled sweetly at them, showing them exactly how she felt being a pawn in their games. Her smile widened when she opened the bag David had handed her. They had ordered her what looked like the greasiest comfort food that Granny's had to offer, her favorite.

"Thanks, guys," she said through a mouthful of onion rings.

"We know what you like," Henry mumbled around his own food. "Granny wanted to send some soup too but we weren't sure if Killian could have it."

The sound of chewing and rustling napkins came to a halt as David and Mary Margaret looked carefully at Emma. Swallowing carefully she took a drink of her soda and wiped her hands on a napkin. Comfort food would have to wait.

As she explained everything that had happened since she first saw Killian the day before she felt as though a poison was being slowly drawn out of her system. She told them how much Killian's hallucinations had worried her, the way she felt unmoored when he first entered the hospital, and how scared she was that anything they did would make no difference. It all came pouring out and she seemed helpless to stop it, even with Henry there.

David and Mary Margaret remained quiet as Emma talked but shared several concerned looks with each other. Henry for his part seemed lost. Emma realized that he had never really seen her so open with her emotions, especially regarding Killian. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently to let him know that she was, essentially, okay.

"Whale made it seem that Regina's spell is our last chance at him getting better," Emma finished, downhearted.

"Are we positive that's what he meant?" David asked skeptically. "I mean, he's not actually a doctor."

"David!" Mary Margaret admonished. "He may not have a real medical degree but he has helped this town, and this family especially, more times than I can count. He's probably more qualified to deal with our unique problems than any 'real' doctor could."

"Okay, okay," Emma said, raising her hands up to stop them. "Diving into Whale's qualifications isn't going to get us anywhere. Mom's right, he's really the only one who knows anything medical in this town and he's dealt with all the magic crap too. We just have to trust him."

"Too bad his story isn't in the book, then we'd know all about him," Henry piped up.

"I think I know all I want to, Henry," David grumbled.

"Someday you're going to have to let it go," Mary Margaret said rolling her eyes. "We were cursed, you were married, we just need to move on."

"Move on from what?" Henry asked, eyes open wide in curiosity.

"Uh, nothing," Emma quickly answered.

"I just had a couple of dates with Victor when we were cursed, that's all," Mary Margaret explained, a blush staining her cheeks pink. She carefully avoided David's accusatory glare.

Henry's gaze danced between the three of them confused but shrugged and turned his attention back to his meal. Emma did the same trying, and failing, to keep a grin off her face. She had needed a distraction and her family had come through in spades.

They finished the rest of the meal talking quietly between themselves about nothing in particular. Yet, Emma couldn't help but glance up at the clock every few minutes. It was almost fully dark outside and they hadn't heard anything from Regina or Whale. Unease was starting to worm it's way back into Emma's thoughts and she started to pull away from the conversation, focusing her attention on the door instead.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Henry burst out.

"Forgot what?" Emma said turning halfway towards him.

"I downloaded a navigation app for Killian," he said excitedly, pulling out his phone.

"A what?" Emma asked confused. She exchanged puzzled glances with her parents before focusing on Henry.

"A navigation app," he repeated matter of factly. "It's supposed to be like using the stars to navigate but without having to go outside. Killian has been teaching me to use a sextant and I figured we could use it to practice while he's stuck in here."

Emma stared at Henry at a loss for words. He was smiling back at her proudly with his phone facing her in his outstretched hand. She gave the screen a cursory glance before pulling him into her arms and crushing him to her. Henry's breath huffed out of him from the impact but his arms quickly came around her shoulders, squeezing back in return.

"That's smart thinking, kid," her voice wavered slightly. "I think Killian would like that a lot."

She tightened her hold on him for a moment before releasing him. He grinned at her before turning his attention to his phone, fiddling around with his new app. Emma sniffed self consciously and started cleaning up their mess from dinner. Her parents didn't comment but she could feel their eyes on her as she worked.

"I'm just going to take this stuff out to the dumpster," she said a minute later, indicating the bags of trash in her hands.

"You don't need to do that," Mary Margaret protested.

"I'd rather not leave the office smelling like my bug after a stakeout.'

"Let your father do it then."

David moved to take the bags but stopped himself. He put a hand on Mary Margaret's arm, squeezing gently.

"Emma can do it. I'm sure she needs to stretch her legs a bit and I think we need to get Neal cleaned up, don't you?" He said pointedly. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head towards Emma, hinting that they should let her have a moment.

Mary Margaret frowned slightly but nodded her head. David gave her an encouraging smile as he gathered Neal in his arms. She mouthed thank you at them as she stepped out into the quiet hospital corridor.

Navigating the hallways from Whale's office to the exit was far easier than the one she had taken from Killian's room. On her way out she passed a custodian's cart where she threw the remains of their meal into the attached trashcan, glad she didn't have to hunt down a dumpster when she got outside. A few minutes later she was stepping out the automatic doors into the orange glow of the street lamps lighting the parking lot.

David had been partially right about her excuse for getting out of the room. She had been cooped up for most of the day and her muscles were screaming for movement of any kind. Her other, more private reason, was to see the stars. She hadn't known that Killian was teaching Henry how to navigate by them and it had stirred something in her chest.

She kept walking through the parking lot and towards the tree lined field behind the hospital. There was a helipad, she was amused to see, but it was cracked and overgrown with weeds. The heels of her boots tapped out a staccato rhythm as she walked to the center of the concrete island and came to a stop on the crossbar of the yellow H that had faded over time. As she tipped her head back she was pleased to see that she was far enough away from the hospital lights to see the pinpricks of light scattered across the night sky.

Killian had taken her out on the water at night before but not once had he tried to teach her anything while they were out there. He had been content just getting her to relax and enjoy herself without worrying about what evils would come crashing down Main Street.

A smile ghosted across her lips as her eyes sought and found the constellation Orion. She had shared with Killian that it was her favorite constellation, even though it seemed cliche. He hadn't commented on that but had asked her why that one had earned her favor. With a sad smile she told him that it was the only constellation she had always been able to find no matter where she had been moved to in the foster system. Without comment he had pulled her into his side and used his hook to point out subtle differences between the stars in Storybrooke and the ones he had navigated by back in the Enchanted Forest.

She stood wrapped in the quiet of the night staring up at the sky for several minutes. It wasn't until a satellite streaked across the sky that she sighed and steeled herself as she returned back to Whale's office. Patting her pockets she realized that she had left her phone on the desk and picked up her pace, not knowing if Regina had returned or not.

The automatic doors whispered open quietly as she walked through them heading towards the office. It wasn't late but the hallways were quiet. Even the nursing station was silent, the one nurse on duty was idly flipping through a magazine barely sparing Emma a glance as she passed by.

As she got closer to Whale's office she could hear raised voices. Turning the final corner she saw Henry standing a few feet down from the open door holding Neal watching for her return. Upon seeing her his eyes lit up and he rushed down the hall towards her as quickly as he could.

"Good, you're back," he said pushing Neal into her arms. "Dr. Whale came back right after you left and Mom just got here. They started arguing but Grandpa brought me out here."

"What are they arguing about and why were you out here alone with Neal?" She asked, straining her ears to make sense of the din.

"Well, Grandpa was holding Neal when we came out but then Grandma started arguing too so he told me to hold him and went back in," Henry shrugged. He glanced back at the door. "I think Dr. Whale is upset that Mom took so long to get back."

"Let's find out what's going on kid," she said, adjusting Neal more securely in her arms.

Stepping into the doorway she found that all four of them were on their feet around the desk. Her parents side by side, David facing Whale across from them and Mary Margaret facing Regina beside them. Their argument ground to a halt as she entered the room but the tension remained.

"And where have you been?" Regina snapped. "Here Whale's been berating me for taking so long and apparently you've been out for an evening stroll. I thought we had a limited amount of time or I wouldn't have rushed things."

"Of course there's a time limit," Whale said exasperated. "Seeing as we've had no contact from you all day can you blame Miss Swan for needing to do something rather than sit here waiting. I thought she would have been helping you at least, being the Savior and all."

"She wields her magic like an ogre with a club. This spell is tricky at best and altering it for what we need was a delicate and intricate process. I couldn't be bothered coddling her through it."

"Now that we've got a better grasp on my magical prowess, what the hell is going on?" Emma asked annoyed at the childish behavior.

"It took me a while but I was able to manipulate the spell to work on just one person. I had to raid Gold's magic stores but Belle was happy to help," Regina pulled a small stoppered bottle from her pocket. There appeared to be a glowing blue cloud trapped inside. "Altering its properties so it could be taken instead of cast was even trickier but I finally got it right."

"Why did you need to do that? Shouldn't it work as it is?" Mary Margaret voiced Emma's thoughts.

"It would but I'm not sure how effectively or how quickly. The spell is meant to prevent illnesses not to fight them. Having Hook ingest it like a potion is the only way to be sure it works."

"We don't have much time," Whale said quietly. "I've been hoping Mr. Jones would improve but he's just getting worse. His pneumonia has progressed rapidly and we've had to put him on an oxygen supply. If this cure doesn't work then he may not have much longer, his body will start shutting down, having exhausted itself fighting the diseases. I'm sorry but we've done all we can. Ms. Mills, this spell is our last hope."

Emma felt herself sway on the spot. Strong arms wrapped around her but they felt wrong, it should be Killian holding her up, keeping her strong. Mary Margaret gently pulled Neal from her arms helping David guide her into one of the chairs. Henry hovered nearby but Emma took almost no notice of him.

"What are we waiting for?" She asked when she found her voice.

"I needed to explain exactly what we were facing," Whale answered. "We need to go into this with all cards on the table. I've already explained this to Mr. Jones and he understands as well."

The information that Killian was awake and knew his fate could go only two ways hit her like a blow to the stomach. She should have been with him when they told him, not packed away in the office blissfully unaware. Closing her eyes she steeled herself for needed to be done.

"Mom, Dad, I want you to take Henry back to the loft," she said in a tone that brooked no argument. "I'll call you when it's over."

"Emma," Mary Margaret started to plea.

"Can you do this? For me?" Her voice broke. "Please?"

"Of course," David leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "We'll be waiting for your call."

Henry protested weakly but backed down after Regina agreed that it was for the best. Her parents and Henry hugged Emma tightly before wishing the others luck as they left. Tamping down the instinct to call them back she turned to the other two and nodded her head. Without a word Whale led the way to Killian's room.

They ended up in a different wing of the hospital than Emma had visited Killian in earlier that morning. It was as quiet as the rest of the hospital but there was an eerie feeling that had Emma shivering as she walked. She saw Regina suppress a shiver herself and wondered what it could be.

Watching Whale's back as the walked she realized what it was. The few nurses they had passed all seemed to have shrunk into themselves. They spoke in hushed whispers and avoided the eyes of their small group as they passed. The ward was essentially on death watch, waiting for the unknowable but inevitable passing on of their patient. They had already resigned themselves to the worst.

Whale came to a stop in front of a room that looked no different from any other that Emma had passed in the rest of the hospital. She glanced curiously around the door and then at Whale.

"I thought you said he was in a specially treated room?"

"He was but it made no difference. We moved him here shortly after he woke from the sedative," he answered matter of factly as he opened the door.

No matter how much she had psyched herself up to remain stoic her face crumpled the moment she saw Killian. In the hours since she had last seen him he had appeared to have lost weight he couldn't afford to lose. The softness of his face was now lost, leaving behind a sharp contrast of shadows caused by the prominent structure of bones beneath his skin. The warm glow of his tanned skin had been sapped from him, leaving a grey pallor in its wake. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth from view. Only his eyes were how she remembered, glittering like sapphires and overjoyed to see her.

"Emma," he breathed her name like a benediction. The mask muffled his words but she could hear him well enough. "Here I thought you had forgotten all about me."

"As if that would be possible," she teased weakly. "It took a curse to make me forget you and even then you were stubborn enough to make me remember. I don't think it'll be that easy this time around."

She walked over to the bed only slightly aware of the other two following her. Not caring that they were watching or if she should or not she pulled the mask from his face and captured his lips in a kiss. He brought his hand up to cradle the back of her head and the gesture nearly broke her fragile composure. She cradled his face in her hands as she lost herself in him, trying to convince herself that everything wasn't crashing down around her.

The sound of someone clearing their throat finally brought her back to reality. Killian smiled against her lips and let his head fall back onto his pillow. She gently replaced the mask and ran her fingers through his hair before straightening up and turning to face Regina.

"Okay," she said, injecting her voice with false bravado. "Let's do this."

Regina pulled the bottle from her pocket again, the bottle casting a blue shadow on her palm.

"Whale told you the risks?" Regina questioned.

"Aye," Killian answered with only a slight nod.

"And he told you what will happen if it fails?"

"Aye," his answer was accompanied by a quick glance at Emma.

"Alright," Regina passed the bottle to Emma but kept her attention on Killian. "All you need to do is drink it. The effects should be immediate."

Emma held the bottle delicately in her hand. It was warm but not from Regina's pocket. The swirling blue clouds seemed to speed up as she gripped the bottle but it might have been a trick of the light. Killian's hand covered hers and pulled the bottle from her grasp.

He had already removed the oxygen mask and was regarding the bottle with what appeared to be disinterest. Emma could read the apprehension in his eyes and the tension in his shoulders that revealed how scared he was. She placed her hand on his arm, nodding at him when he looked at her. Her lip trembled as she opened her mouth to say one final thing to him, anything that would set his mind at ease.

"Don't worry, Swan," he murmured, beating her to it. "I'm a survivor."

Before she could answer back he thumbed the cork out of the bottle and swallowed the contents in one fell swoop. She watched his face anxiously as he lowered his arm to the bed. He gave her a puzzled look and shrugged, seemingly feeling no different. He opened his mouth to say something when his body was wracked with spasms.

Killian's back bowed off the bed as his head snapped back on the pillow. The bottle smashed in his hand as his fingers curled into a fist, pushing the glass further into his palm, drops of blood pattering down on the bed like rain. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his eyes were wide and unseeing. Emma's hands fluttered uselessly from his hand to his chest and up to his face not knowing what to do. Finally he collapsed back on the bed, as though some invisible set of strings had been cut.

"Killian?" Emma's hands were shaking badly as brought them to his neck to find his pulse.

Whale was shouting behind her. Regina was trying to pull her away. One of the machines was beeping melodiously, a sound that contrasted greatly to the chaos in the room. She couldn't think, if she could just feel his heartbeat everything would be okay. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and she swept her hand back, knocking over everyone in the room in a flash of light. Nothing mattered, she just needed to feel the steady thumping of his heart.

"Killian?"

Her hands sought out his chest, the spot where she had shoved his heart back. Her ears were buzzing, her vision blurry, and she couldn't feel a thing.

"Killian!"


	7. Broken Fever

**The characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz. Let's get to it.**

* * *

"Killian!"

Emma dropped her head to his chest, pressing her ear down over the place where his heart was. Any hope that her sense of touch had failed her evaporated as no sound reverberated through the warm body beneath her. She could feel tears coursing down her cheeks, falling onto Killian's still chest.

"Not like this, dammit," she fumed.

Standing up she angrily dashed the tears from her eyes. Regina, Whale, and an unlucky nurse were still lying unconscious on the floor. The heart monitor was still going off, a cruel reminder that Killian's heart had stopped. Emma ignored them all and concentrated on what she needed to do.

She placed both palms flat on Killian's chest in an imitation of all the medical dramas she'd ever watched on t.v.. Closing her eyes she felt the hum of magic dance under her skin. Regina was right, she really only used her magic when force was necessary, sending it hurdling out and hoping that it did what she needed it to do. In all fairness she'd never been one for subtlety anyways, with or without magic.

Taking a deep breath she focused on Killian's heart. She remembered when she held it in her palm, the bright red glow only slightly dimmed by the black swirling within. Impossibly it had felt light as air yet heavy and dense as a rock simultaneously. A pulsing heat had warmed her hands, making her palms tingle as though they had fallen asleep and the blood was rushing back into them. Emma held onto these images and feelings as she flexed her hands, fingers pressing into his chest.

The lights in the room dimmed, casting the room in shadow. One of the bodies on the floor stirred but Emma took no notice. A warbling sound filled the room as the beeping of the heart monitor wound down into silence. Furrowing her brow, Emma concentrated harder, screwing her eyes closed even tighter and picturing Killian's encouraging smile.

"Come on Swan, you can do this."

Later she would swear it was a trick her mind had played on her. That the stress and panic had caused her to hear things. When they asked later how she did it she would never tell them that Killian's voice had told her she could.

A bright white light seeped from her fingertips. It wasn't like any other time she had done magic, where it had erupted out of her full force with no sense of control. The light spread down her hands causing her palms to glow. For a moment it appeared as if she had trapped two balls of light under her hands. Tendrils of pure white light snaked out from her hand and danced their way across Killian's chest, meeting halfway and coiling around themselves, forming a single band of magic.

Emma saw none of this. Her eyes remained closed, not wanting anything to distract her. She was acting on pure instinct and the overwhelming feeling that she was using her power in the way it was meant to be used. As she gently gave her magic a final push, the command to restart Killian's heart, the light she could sense behind her closed eyes peaked in brightness. She was sure that if her eyes had been open she would have been temporarily blinded by its intensity.

In an instant the light from her magic faded and the overhead fluorescents flickered back to their full luminosity. Emma carefully opened her eyes, her wide, tearful gaze set unwavering on the form in front of her. She hardly dared to breathe, taking in shallow gulps of air.

A moment passed, then two, until she felt it. Her fingers clenched the hospital gown under her fingers involuntarily as she pressed her right palm more firmly over Killian's heart. She felt it again, the beat drumming steadily and unfaltering in his chest. She moaned in relief and sagged onto the bed, her legs unable to keep her standing.

Emma leaned forward and buried her face in the crook of Killian's shoulder. She could feel his warm breath stirring her hair but there was no sign of awareness from him. A shuffling noise drifted up from the floor, followed by a groan. Loathe to break contact but needing to reassure herself that she didn't permanently injure the others in the room she sat up. Her hands remained over Killian's heart as she looked around the room.

Whale was the one Emma had heard moving around. He was slowly getting to his feet, rubbing the back of his head, and seemingly trying to piece together what had happened while he was unconscious. His eyes snapped up to the bed and darted between Killian's prone form and Emma sitting by his side.

"What happened?" He quickly walked over to the bed and grabbed Killian's wrist, checking for a pulse. His mouth dropped open in surprise and he looked up at Emma with awe.

"What do you remember?" She asked hesitantly.

He shook his head and frowned. Emma was sure he was trying to find a way to rationalize what he thought happened. She recognized the look from when Henry first brought her to Storybrooke. She almost smiled at the memory but she desperately needed Whale to examine Killian and tell her that everything would be alright.

"Killian downed whatever was in that bottle and everything went to hell," he said unaware that his professional manner had deserted him. "The heart monitor was going off and I called in a nurse to help me with the crash cart to get his heart started. Regina was trying to pull you out of the way and I came over to help… and that's all I remember."

Emma drew in a breath. She wasn't sure how much she could tell Whale about what she had done. He begrudgingly accepted magic as a reality but his mind was still fixed on finding a scientific explanation for the world around him.

"I may have knocked everyone out," she said chagrined. "There was too much going on and I didn't stop to think that you were trying to help. I just wanted to make sure Killian was okay."

"But he wasn't?"

"No. I couldn't find his pulse," her voice shook as fresh tears gathered in her eyes. "His heart wasn't beating. I…I..."

"Brought him back?" Whale sounded impressed and shocked.

"Yes," she whispered turning back to look down at Killian.

His chest was rising and falling with every breath and his heart beat steadily under her hand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Whale begin a more thorough examination. She made no move to get up but Whale surprised her by working around her, not even asking her to remove her hand from Killian's chest.

"Magic can't bring someone back from the dead," Regina's groaned from her position on the floor. She was sitting up and was looking at Emma through narrowed eyes. "Even if you're the Savior."

"And yet Mr. Jones is alive and well," Whale's voice dripped with scorn. "In fact I'd go so far as to say his recovery is almost miraculous."

Emma looked up at Whale with cautious hope. He was smiling down at her and nodding his head gently.

"He's going to be okay?" She asked in a small voice that sounded nothing like her.

"I think he's going to be fine. His pulse is strong and steady, there's no sign of a fever, and probably most telling of all is the fact that his lungs sound healthy and clear. I can't be sure without an X-ray but I have a feeling you won't be leaving his side any time soon."

Shaking her head she looked back down at Killian. His skin is no longer grey and waxy but pink, warm, and healthy. She blinked quickly, realizing that his cheeks are fuller than when she first entered the room. Even without Whale's diagnosis she could tell that Killian was on his way to recovering. The only damper on her excitement is the fact that he was still unconscious.

"Why isn't he awake?" She tried to keep the panic out of her voice and barely succeeded.

"I can't be sure but the fact that he drank some magical concoction, had his heart stop, and then was resuscitated by the Savior might have something to do with it," Whale said jokingly. His smile softened as he continued. "He has gone through the gamut of his illness in a little over twenty-four hours and then cured in less than five minutes. The fact that he's not awake is encouraging, in fact. It means his body is truly healing itself."

"None of this explains how he's alive at all," Regina said as she stood at the foot of the bed looking at them. "We all saw what happened and heard that damn heart monitor go off. Are we just going to ignore the fact that something is not right here?"

Emma could feel her happiness draining away. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be mad at Regina for her callous remarks or worried that there was something else that could go wrong. In the end she let her anger win out, she was tired of being trampled over by feelings of helplessness.

"Unless you have some sort of magical diagnostic tool we don't know about can't you just accept what your eyes are telling you?" She rounded on Regina, fire dancing in her veins. "You were so eager to help and now you're not willing to believe it worked? Have a little faith Regina. I would think that Henry would have helped you with that by now."

Regina looked like she had been slapped but Emma didn't care. She was tired, exhausted really. Taking a deep breath she kept her gaze on Regina but let her shoulders relax. Regina opened her mouth several times before squaring her shoulders and meeting Emma's eyes.

"Look, I'm not trying to rain on your parade," she said with caution as Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm not. I just don't understand how you did it. I tried for years to bring Daniel back with magic and it never worked. Until…"

"Until I did it for you," Whale supplied.

Emma and Regina swung around to look at him. He was bending over the nurse who was still unconscious on the floor. Seemingly satisfied with what he found he straightened up and faced the women.

"I believe what happened here and what happened with Daniel are similar," he said slowly.

"What are you talking about?" Regina said narrowing her eyes.

"I was unable to complete my life's work until I received a heart that could withstand the procedure. For that I needed a strong heart, a heart from your realm, one taken from its owner by magical means," Whale unknowingly slipped into the cadence of whatever land he had come from. "Rumplestiltskin was the one who showed me that it could be done, that it could be a success. My brother was the first to be resurrected."

"Wait, do you mean to tell me that your brother was the," Emma's mouth snapped shut before she could utter the word _monster_. She wasn't sure Whale would take kindly to that.

"Yes. It was my brother who died due to my carelessness and whom I brought back because of my selfishness. I foolishly thought that science alone could perform miracles and that magic was just a means to an end. Perhaps they are more intricately entwined than any of us previously thought."

"What does this have to do with Daniel or Hook for that matter?" Regina asked impatiently.

"With Daniel, as with my brother, I needed a magical heart to complete the procedure. A scientific experiment that was impossible otherwise. The blending of magic and science seems to be able to perform feats never before thought possible. I have used it to bring back the dead, although they were much changed from the men they used to be.

"In Mr. Jones' case his heart was wholly his own but had stopped. There is a window of time where we are able to resuscitate a patient when this happens. The nurse and myself were about to do this when Emma knocked us out. Who knows if it would have worked at all, considering how the medical treatments had been ineffective up to that point. Whatever Emma did was precisely what needed to be done in the time she was afforded. It may have been that her magic was the only thing that would have saved him."

Emma sat back in shock as Whale's words sunk in. She hadn't acted with any purpose other than to keep Killian alive. The fact that she could be the only one who could have done it was almost too much to take in.

"She could have done this all along?" Regina asked incredulous. "Then why did I have to figure out how to alter my protection spell at all?"

"I'm not claiming to know all the intricacies of magic. I still consider myself a man of science above all else," he said defensively. "I do believe, however, that your protection spell is what saved Mr. Jones from dying from his illnesses and Emma is what saved Mr. Jones from dying altogether."

A heavy silence filled the room. Emma couldn't decide what to do and settled for watching the other two. Regina was shifting from foot to foot in a gesture of unease that Emma had never seen from her. Whale had bent back down over the nurse who was showing signs of finally waking up.

"If you'll excuse me ladies I'm going to take Nurse Helen here to be examined," Whale broke the silence as he helped the nurse up from the floor. "Mr. Jones is going to be fine and I have confidence he'll wake up fully recovered. If you need me I'll be in my office for what will most likely be a long night."

With that Whale guided the nurse out of the room leaving Regina and Emma alone with the unconscious Killian. Emma kept a wary eye on Regina as she examined the room she would be spending the night in. It was almost an exact replica of the room she had visited earlier but the only window in the room just showed the hallway instead of a view to the outside. There's also a chair, a weird cross between a lawn chair and recliner but definitely something that she could collapse into as soon as Regina left.

Regina, for her part, was still standing awkwardly at the foot of the bed. Emma could tell that she was trying to push through an apology, one that Emma realized she didn't really need to hear.

"Don't worry about it Regina," Emma said tiredly.

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Regina rebuked.

"Yeah, I do," she countered. "But you and I both know it's easier to just nod our heads and move on."

"True. That doesn't mean that it should go unsaid. I'm sorry that I..." Regina paused to find the right word. "Doubted what you had done. Seems like even with how long I've been using magic there are still some things I need to learn."

Emma gave her a tiny nod, accepting her apology. A small smile graced Regina's lips before she returned returned the nod. As she turned to leave Emma stopped her.

"Can you tell my parents that everything is okay and I'll call them when Killian wakes up?"

"Is this your way of punishing me?" Regina asked without heat.

"Please, you're going over there to get Henry anyway," Emma said with a wave of her hand. "Don't mention the details, just that the spell, potion thing worked and not to worry."

"I thought you said you'd call them yourself."

"I will," Emma said turning her gaze back down to Killian. "I just want to..."

"Be here in case he wakes up," Regina finished for her. "I understand. I'll let them know."

"Thank you, Regina."

Regina hummed her response as she left the room. Emma wasn't left alone for long, however. A nursing team, one blonde and one brunette, entered the room shortly after Regina left to do another check on Killian and to replace the defunct heart monitor. When they were satisfied that all was in order one of them turned to Emma.

"Visiting hours are over miss. You are welcome to come back when they resume tomorrow at eight," the blonde one said authoritatively even though she didn't appear to be much older than Emma

"I'm not leaving," Emma said walking around the bed to the chair and dropping into it. "Go ahead and call Whale to ask him about it. Even if you called the authorities to force me to leave you'd just be calling me or my dad. Might as well just let me try and get comfortable because I'm not going anywhere."

The brunette nurse snickered behind her hand as the blonde one stood staring at Emma aghast.

"Oh, just let her be Judy. You obviously didn't listen to Doctor Whale when he said that the sheriff's boyfriend was here and she'd be around the rest of the night," the brunette, Betty her name tag read, pulled on the one called Judy's arm. "Sorry about that Sheriff Swan. We'll leave you be."

Judy left reluctantly, a look of offence still etched on her face. Betty winked at Emma before she pulled the door closed behind her. Emma laughed to herself as she inched the chair closer to the bed.

It wasn't an ideal set up. Sitting in the chair meant that the bed came to chest level and had rails on the side that prevented Emma from leaning on it comfortably. The rails stopped halfway down the bed at the point where the mechanics to raise the head of the mattress were. It was still in the upraised position, propping Killian up but not too much to seem uncomfortable.

Emma turned the chair so that she faced Killian instead of just sitting beside him. His hand was resting at his side, covered in bandages. She hadn't noticed when it had been done but she was thankful to see that it wasn't anything more than superficial cuts. Gingerly she cradled it in one hand and ran the other over the bandages and roughened palm in between them.

It was quiet in the room, even the various machines seem to whisper as they monitored their patient. Unlike the other times she'd had a quiet moment there was no sense of dread or foreboding hanging over her. Whale had told her that Killian would be okay and she had to believe that because worrying would drive her out of her mind.

His hand was warm in hers but there was no response to the paths her fingers traced over his skin. She didn't know what time it was but she knew it was late. Her exhaustion pulled at her bones, screaming for her to rest. Fighting against it, unwilling to lose a second of time where he could wake up and smile at her as though nothing was wrong, she began to talk instead.

"Looks like we won't be going sailing tomorrow after all," she started quietly. "Or is it today? I don't even know what time it is. Which is fine, Henry has a history project that he's been avoiding. How he can pour over his story book time and time again but not have any interest in what happened in the world he grew up in I have no idea.

"I'm sure Mom has something to say about that but seeing as how she's going back to teaching soon we'll have to leave that discussion for parent teacher meetings. God, how is that going to play out, especially with Regina there. It's not like she handles criticism well."

She paused wondering if she was talking for his sake or for hers. In the end it didn't matter, it was keeping her from dwelling on the darker thoughts floating through her mind.

"My parents were here earlier. Well, not here here but in the hospital. Turns out they kind of approve of us being together. My mom a bit more than my dad but isn't that how it usually works out? Not that I know or anything. I wonder if I'll be the same way when Henry starts dating, not that he will be any time soon, that's for sure.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Henry downloaded this app on his phone for you. He told me that you've been teaching him how to navigate by the stars and I guess the app does something similar. Henry was so excited to show you he was practically ready to run to your room to see what you thought.

"I didn't know you were actually teaching him things when you took him out sailing. He must like it if he's putting stuff on his phone for you."

Realization slammed into Emma almost before the thought could form. How Killian had ingratiated himself into their lives with Henry, her parents and most of all herself almost without notice. He was an integral part of her life and had been since he returned her memories in New York. Her heart clenched painfully when she grasped how close she had come to losing him completely.

"He was so excited to show you and I didn't know how to tell him that he couldn't. That you were so sick and Whale didn't even know what was going on."

Her voice started to waver and tears formed in her eyes but the floodgates had opened and she was helpless to stop.

"I was so scared Killian. It all happened so fast I barely had time to breathe. I still feel like I can't breathe."

She took in a shuddering breath, grasping at Killian's arm to avoid injuring his hand further.

"You have told me so many times that you're a survivor and I believed you. So you have to survive this, please, for me. Don't leave me alone."

Emma broke down into heaving sobs dropping her head onto the bed. She had always shut down her emotions before they could run away from her but it was too much. Killian had unlocked a part of herself she thought she had lost and it was aching for him to pull her into his arms and whisper that everything would be okay. That together they could conquer realms.

Eventually her sobs quieted to a steady stream of tears that only stopped when she fell asleep from pure exhaustion. Even then her sleep was fitful and lacking the rest she truly needed.

Hours later she woke with a start as one of the machines started beeping. Automatically her eyes turned to the heart monitor, horrified to realize it was the one going off. Despite having no medical training she recognized the tones as the ones that she had heard earlier, when Killian's heart had stopped. She quickly shifted her gaze to the bed truly afraid of what she would see.

The sight of Killian holding a bunch of wires in his hand with a sheepish grin on his face was the last image her mind was prepared to see. She sat stunned watching his grin falter as his hand lowered to his side.

"Sorry about the racket, love," he said ruefully. "Couldn't seem to get comfortable with these bloody wires attached to my chest."

Relief flooded through her body in a tidal wave. It was so overwhelming that a laugh burst through her lips. The laugh was so unexpected and unlike her that another followed. Soon she was holding her stomach as her laughter pealed loudly in the small room. When Whale came banging through the door with Betty and a crash cart in tow she found herself gasping for air and she was unsure if she was still laughing or crying from it all.

Waving off Betty, who was asking her if she was alright, Emma finally got ahold of herself. Killian was watching her with amusement as Whale looked him over. As their eyes met Emma felt the last of her tension and wariness leave her. He was awake and looking at her with eyes clear of illness or pain. He had survived, just like she asked him to.


	8. Healing Together

**Here it is, the final chapter. Thank you to everyone that followed or commented or made it a favorite, it definitely gave me the motivation to keep working on it. A big thank you to my sister, who lets me use her as a sounding board and gives me feedback via emojis.**

**The characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz. Let's go play, one last time.**

* * *

Emma rolled over and tried to fall back asleep but the cheerful twittering of birds outside her window were preventing that. The grey light filtering through her curtains let her know it was early morning, early enough to garner an extra hour or so of sleep. She pulled her blankets over her head in a vain attempt to block out the light and the noise. It had been a long weekend and she felt she had earned a lazy Monday morning. The tickling feeling she had at the back of her throat had nothing to do with it.

Laying in her bed, buried under the covers, she tried to clear her mind in an attempt to drift back to sleep. Despite her best attempts her thoughts kept drifting back to the night she had almost lost Killian. It had easily been one of the scariest and most emotional nights of her life, right up there with Henry's birth. She hadn't been able to breathe until Whale had turned off the heart monitor and told them that Killian seemed fully recovered.

Emma had sagged back in the chair in relief. She barely listened to Whale as he instructed Killian to try to get some sleep, that they would run a few tests in the morning, but in all likelihood they would be releasing him the next day. Her earlier laughing fit had brought tears to her eyes but she didn't realize they were coursing down her cheeks until Betty was holding a tissue box under her nose.

Whale squeezed her shoulder gently as she dabbed at the tears. With a gentle reminder to get some rest he and Betty left quietly. As silence descended on the room Emma couldn't seem to stem the flow of tears. It was as though a dam had cracked but instead of releasing a flood only a slow but steady leak was possible. She was so preoccupied with trying to get her emotions under control that she jumped when Killian's hand grabbed the tissue from her own.

"Are you okay, love?" He asked with concern as he gently wiped the tears away.

"I should be asking you that," she answered with a hitch in her voice.

"Aye, but I am, as ever, the gentleman and seeing you in distress is an unhappy sight," he tipped her chin back so her eyes would meet his. "It appears that I'm fully recovered. Nothing more to worry about."

Her eyes flitted back and forth between his. She wasn't looking for a lie, her super power was quiet, she was taking him in. The spark of mischief had returned, causing the seemingly impossible blue of his irises to dance with mirth. As he watched her scrutinizing him his gaze softened and she caught a glimpse of what she was looking for. The yet unnamed, all encompassing thing that he tried to keep shuttered from her view. It wasn't the time to drag it into the light but all Emma needed was to see that it was still there, unharmed.

She shifted her gaze away from his in an attempt to gain control of her emotions. Things between them had been going so well she had begun to dream of possibilities that hadn't crossed her mind since Neal. Back then their on the run life had been a shadow darkening the edges of her hopes. With Killian all she could see was the light and it scared her with how easy, joyful, and freeing it could be. Her urge was to pull back, build up her walls, and make a joke but she fought against it.

Her eyes found his again. "Thank you, Killian."

"For what, love," he asked, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"You survived, like I asked you to," she said simply, leaning into his hand that had come to a rest on her cheek.

Killian looked thunderstruck. His mouth dropped open slightly and his eyes widened in shock. Emma saw confusion flit across his features as he tried to piece together what happened after he took the potion.

"Swan, is there something about my recovery that you've neglected to share?"

"It didn't involve sacrificing my powers if that's what you're worried about," she winced slightly as the defensive remark left her lips. Taking in a breath she tried again. "You had some sort of seizure or something, I'm not really sure. The bandages on your hand are from you smashing the bottle when it happened."

He pulled his hand away from her to inspect the damage for himself. She mourned the loss of contact but it made telling him what happened next easier to bear.

"When it was over your heart had stopped. You… you died," her voice came out as a whisper. He must have heard her because his movements stilled and he stared unflinchingly into her eyes.

"Emma..."

"I didn't stop to think," she spoke over him, the words pouring out of her. "I just… I couldn't lose you like that, not if I could do something about it. I knocked everyone out. I had to focus. There were too many distractions and you weren't moving. You weren't moving."

Killian had reached out to calm her down and Emma grabbed hold of his hand as if it was a life preserver keeping her afloat. He made no complaint about pain, gripping her hand as tightly as she was his. When she made no indication of continuing he tugged gently but insistently until she joined him on the bed. She wasn't crying but she knew the tears were close to falling.

Curling into him she focused on the calming effect his hand had as he idly traced random patterns on her skin. He wasn't pushing her for answers, letting her tell him in her own time and in her own way. Slowly but without hesitation Emma told him the rest, except for hearing his phantom words of encouragement. What had happened was hard enough to believe without that detail added. Killian listened patiently and when she was finished he tightened his hold on her and kissed her forehead reverently.

"Well, Swan, it appears you're upholding up your reputation as the Savior," he mumbled into her hair.

"And you're keeping up yours as a survivor."

"Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to make it a fortnight before we'll need them again, love."

Emma hummed in agreement but found herself too comfortable to say much else. The crisis was over and Killian was a little worse for wear but she was finally convinced that he was going to be alright. Kicking off her boots she forced her way under the blankets, not once breaking contact with Killian. As she closed her eyes she felt Killian press a kiss into her hair as he settled in beside her.

"Emma?"

Opening her eyes Emma had a moment of disorientation. The room was filled with the warm, mellow glow of midmorning sun and Mary Margaret was leaning over her with a look of concern on her face. It took several seconds for her to realize that she was not in the hospital but back in her own room. She had fallen asleep lost in the memories of explaining things to Killian. Looking at her alarm clock on the table by her bed she was stunned to see that it was nearly nine thirty.

"Emma are you feeling okay?" Mary Margaret asked as she sat down on the bed.

"Yeah," Emma answered in a gravelly voice. She sat up but immediately regretted it when her head started pounding and her throat felt as though she had swallowed ground glass. "Or maybe not."

She had thought the headache she had woken up with the day before had been a result of stress and two days of broken rest. A nurse had offered her aspirin that she gladly accepted after noticing her wincing slightly as she discharged Killian from the hospital with instructions to get more rest. After getting Killian back to his room at Granny's and making him promise to try and sleep it had been early evening. The pressure in her head had begun to increase and it had taken all her concentration to drive her bug back to the loft to collapse in her bed. If the time on the clock was right she had been asleep for almost fourteen hours.

Dropping her head back on her headboard she closed her eyes and hoped the vise gripping the sides of her head would disappear. She felt a cool hand press on her forehead before checking each of her cheeks in turn. Mary Margaret drew in a hissing breath through her teeth before getting up from the bed. Emma heard her moving through the apartment, opening doors and running water before she felt a cool washcloth drape over her brow.

"Looks like you caught Killian's flu," Mary Margaret said quietly. "I've got to get to the office but I text your father letting him know you won't be going in to the station today."

Emma opened her eyes and glanced gratefully at her mother. Unlike other aspects of her life Emma didn't try to deny when she was sick. One attempt at trying to collar a mark while she had a cold had taught her that. Mary Margaret had also brought up a glass of water which Emma drank greedily, finding a temporary respite from the burning sandpaper feel of her sore throat.

"Thanks. You should go, don't want to be late for whatever meeting you're trying to avoid," she said holding the washcloth in place as she laid back down.

"I'm not avoiding it, just casually putting it off until I have no choice but to go," Mary Margaret said primly as she adjusted the blankets around Emma's shoulders. "Besides, any decisions I make will probably be overturned once Regina is back in office. I'm just pretending to be useful until then."

Emma laughed which quickly turned into a painful cough. Groaning she closed her eyes. Despite the hours of sleep she already had her body was ready for more.

"I don't have any medicine here but there's aspirin for the pain and to help with the fever," Mary Margaret rattled a bottle Emma had missed earlier. "I'll tell David to pick up some medicine on his way home. He should be here after he finishes whatever he's doing at the station."

"He doesn't need to do that," Emma said, protesting weakly. She looked up at her mother and saw the stubborn set of her face. "Okay, fine. Tell him I want soup from Granny's too, chicken noodle, even if it's not on the menu. If she can make it for Killian then she can sure as hell make it for me too."

Mary Margaret bit her lip to keep from laughing. She shook the aspirin bottle in Emma's direction one last time, a silent order to take some. Emma sat up slightly and held her hand out for the bottle. After fumbling with the cap for a moment she shook out the pills and finished the glass of water taking them.

Lying back down she closed her eyes and heard Mary Margaret move around the apartment once again. The noises faded into the background as Emma let sleep pull her under once again.

"Swan?"

As she swam up into consciousness Emma idly wondered if she'd ever wake up normally again. Her throat was still on fire, the dull pounding of her head sluggishly keeping tempo with her heartbeat, and the rest of her body had decided to join the party with a symphony of bone deep aches. It took every ounce of effort to open her eyes and focus on the face hovering over hers.

"Emma, love, can you hear me?" Killian's face swam in and out of focus with a look of concern that mirrored her mother's from earlier.

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," she mumbled, laughing to herself as she closed her eyes again.

"Bloody hell," Killian cursed . "Emma, I need you to wake up. Can you do that for me, love?"

She felt his hand slide under her shoulders and prop her up. Opening her eyes she could only see Killian's left shoulder but felt him maneuvering pillows behind her back. When he gently lowered her back down she was left in a sitting position staring up into his worried eyes.

"Bad form, Captain," Emma said petulantly but finally waking up. "It's not nice to wake a lady from her beauty rest."

"Resting for beauty's sake is unnecessary on your part, Swan," Killian said, sounding relieved. "I come bearing fizzing elixirs and a bowl of Granny's soup."

"My hero," she noticed the way he stiffened but decided not to comment on it. "Wait, why are you here? David was supposed to be playing delivery boy."

"I was hoping you would want to join me at Granny's for lunch but my calls to you remained unanswered. I elected to stop by the station, thinking you were occupied with sheriff duties. David then informed me that you were, in fact, home sick. It didn't take long for me to persuade him to leave the delivering of goods up to me."

Emma smiled, trying to imagine the silent test of wills between David and Killian. Figuring it had probably been a close call she sat up carefully minding the timpani concert in her head. Her hand pressed to her temple and immediately snagged itself in her hair. She belatedly realized she probably had horrible bed head and her flannel pajamas weren't the most flattering pieces of clothing in her wardrobe. As casual as possible she tried to flatten down her hair but caught Killian watching her with an amused look and gave it up as a bad job.

"Are you going to keep staring at the rat's nest on my head or are you going to give me the medicine?"

"Aye, love," he said grinning. "Although, I'm afraid I left it downstairs when I came to check on you."

"Well, downstairs it is then."

Every step felt made her feel like her bones were made of glass but she stopped to grab a change of clothes from her dresser before she gingerly descended into the main part of the loft. Sitting on the island in the kitchen was a white paper bag with what she assumed was the medicine and soup. Peeking into it she was pleased to see that she was right and that Granny had also sent along a piece of pie.

Killian had followed her quietly downstairs keeping a comforting hand on her lower back. She motioned for him to sit at the island while she went about preparing her medicine and pulling out the appropriate silverware. The simple domesticity of it brought a smile to her face despite the minute agony she was feeling. After waiting the approximate amount of time for the tablets to dissolve Emma tossed back the glass of medicine in one gulp.

"Do you think you can entertain yourself for fifteen minutes?" she asked as she set the glass down on the counter.

"I can think of many things to do in fifteen minutes," Killian answered with a lift of his eyebrows. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to take a quick shower and wash this weekend off of me. Hopefully I'll feel more myself when I get out."

She waited for a remark or innuendo but none came. "Do what you need to do, love. I can wait."

With the feeling he was talking about more than just her shower she took her clothes into the bathroom. Exactly fifteen minutes later she emerged wearing a pair of yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt feeling marginally better as she wrung her hair out in a towel. Killian didn't appear to have moved from his spot at the island but the book in his hand indicated otherwise.

"What's that?" she asked sitting down slowly on the stool next to him. The medicine was working but she still felt out of sorts.

"A book that Belle had mentioned and that your parents had in their bookcase," he said, turning the book so that Emma could read the cover.

Emma laughed out loud when she saw that it was actually her copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. It was one of the few possessions she had kept with her in all her years of moving from place to place. She thought it fitting that he was reading it in more ways than one.

"It's a good book, one of my favorites. I think you'll like it," she said running a finger along the spine.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked as he set the book aside and looked her over.

"A little. I don't feel any worse at least," she said standing up and draping the towel over the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "I am hungry though."

"That's more than I could say the last time we attempted to share a meal," Killian remarked as he pulled the containers from the bag. "If I remember correctly you weren't that interested in eating anything either."

"Watching you suffer can do that to my appetite," she shot back. Immediate regret flowed through her and she looked at him unhappily. "Sorry, I'm still processing the whole thing."

"As am I, love," he said softly. "I never did properly thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving my life, for making sure I kept my word. Seems as if we're destined to pull each other out of one bind or another."

"There are worse destinies out there. Let's just hope saving each other isn't the only thing we have to look forward to in the future," she said it lightly but placed her hand in his to assure him that she had a deeper meaning. "So, were you able to convince Granny to make chicken noodle?"

Killian picked up on her attempt to change the mood. "Aye, the soup of the day was something called 'chilli' but she seemed to have anticipated your needs. I had barely said the words before she was setting the order down on the counter in front of me. She wouldn't even accept any form of payment."

"My dad must have called in the order," she said as she grabbed the container of soup and headed toward the couch in the living room. "And he got her to put it on the sheriff's tab too or she likes you a lot more than we suspected."

"I told you, Swan, she cannot resist my alluring charm," he quipped as he sat on the couch with the container of pie.

"Hmph, it's going to your head if you ask me," she mumbled as she set down the soup on the coffee table.

After digging out her laptop from under a pile of clothes she had been meaning to fold and hunting down a dvd set that Henry had put back in the wrong place she joined Killian on the couch. Inserting the first disk she set the laptop on the table and grabbed her soup, leaning into Killian's side.

"So what story are we going to watch now? Not another one of those moving illustrations that completely contradict what actually happened?" Killian asked grimacing.

"They're called cartoons and no not one of those. Whenever I get sick I like to watch the Back to the Future trilogy. It's a comfort thing," she said shrugging self consciously as the movie started.

"If it brings you comfort, love, then who am I to protest?" He said amiably as he popped open the lid on his pie.

They ate quietly, except for when Emma had to pause it when Killian recognized the name Marty McFly and made her explain that was what she had been talking about on their trip to the past. He quickly lost himself in the movie, the novelty of film still enthralled him to no end. She ended up falling asleep halfway through the second one, with Killian's arm around her shoulders and his hand playing with her hair.

When she woke up Doc and Marty were in the old west using a hoverboard to rescue Clara. Emma was mildly surprised that she had slept through almost two of the movies but she was more surprised that Killian had figured out how to switch out the dvds and start the third one himself. She turned her head to tell him as much but saw that he had fallen asleep as well. Smiling to herself she settled in to watch the end.

Twenty minutes later Mary Margaret and David entered the loft with Neal in tow to find Emma and Killian both asleep on the couch. Mary Margaret draped a blanket over them, closed the laptop, and gently pushed David back out of the apartment. Neither one of the sleeping forms on the couch stirred until much later, when Emma dragged a half asleep Killian up to her much more comfortable and much bigger bed. She felt better the next day, which had nothing to do with waking up in Killian's arms. Not at all.


End file.
